


Just You, Me, and these Eggs You Laid Between Us

by DroppedAllTheseOreos



Series: Just You, Me, and All These Egg Fics [1]
Category: Kamen Rider Ex-Aid
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, M/M, Minor Body Horror, Off Screen Egg Laying, Offscreen NSFW, Partial Nudity, Trans Graphite (Kamen Rider Ex-Aid), Trans Kujou Kiriya, Trans Male Character, just playing around with bugster anatomy y’know?, non-sexual nudity
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-30
Updated: 2020-11-03
Packaged: 2021-03-02 02:48:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 29,010
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23917792
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DroppedAllTheseOreos/pseuds/DroppedAllTheseOreos
Summary: Kiriya picks the worst possible day to sneak into Genm's offices and try to heckle Kuroto.
Relationships: Dan Kuroto/Parad, Graphite/Kujou Kiriya, Houjou Emu/Kujou Kiriya, Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Series: Just You, Me, and All These Egg Fics [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2078559
Comments: 113
Kudos: 18





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some of the working titles for this:
> 
> Kiriya and Graphite's Eggscelent Adventures  
> The Easter Special, but It's the middle of November (in canon, anyways)  
> Not What You'd Eggspect  
> and...  
> This Sure Is a Thing I've Decided to Do with My Life
> 
> Wow, I haven't been so nervous posting a chapter since my first few fics. Wish me luck on getting this thing done!

Kiriya took the day off, planning to try and blow off some frustrations from yesterday since that was a disaster. But despite all his bargaining, Nisshi wouldn't play hooky with him, and he wouldn't give out Riko's number. Instead, he just shot Kiriya a tired look over the microscope, "I know both of you, you're going to gossip about me, and I already get enough lip out of her." He ducked his head back down, "Besides, someone needs to keep this place going if you're out for the day. Mystery diseases and crime don't solve themselves."

They sure didn't, and that's why he found himself at Genm, strolling through the hallways like he'd been working there for years, dodging any security he saw as he made his way up to Kuroto's office.

Sure, he could've tried to find someone else to distract him on his day off, but any close friends and family from outside of work were all back in Okinawa or Nagoya. And it wasn't like he was exactly close with anyone involved in the Bugster crisis. He could make an exception for Hanaya given their… "stress relief" activities outside of work and fighting, but he couldn't even guess the guy's favorite color if held at gunpoint; much less say they had any kind of functional relationship. It was probably better to label it as "one night stand that keeps happening because we're both lonely and messed up."

And after yesterday, as kind as Emu was, he probably didn't want anything to do with Kiriya anymore. Just his luck, the one time he tried to be honest, it had to backfire miserably.

While a day to himself to just relax sounded nice, and was probably much needed, all the memories that got kicked up recently made it too easy for him to get lost in his own head. He needed someone to distract him, and going to heckle Kuroto during work as a retort 'fuck you' for planting that random guy in the Dark Ex-Aid suit was probably the best he was going to get right now.

Once he'd finally made it to the top floor of Genm, the walk to Kuroto's office was pretty much muscle memory at this point. And he still didn't have anyone in front to check who was coming and going. Probably a mix of stupidity and arrogance and Kiriya would love to take him down a peg somehow. He pushed through the door, determined to find some kind of new info on the Bugsters, or evidence that Dan Kuroto was 100% definitely the Dark Ex-Aid, but stopped dead in his tracks.

The office was unnervingly empty. Kuroto not being there wasn't a surprise, it was always around 60-40 chances in favor of not seeing him because of a meeting or whatever. But the freaky thing was the barrenness of the space. He might've been able to pass it off as renovations if it weren't for some familiar looking shelves and tables all shoved near the center of the room where he remembered those high backed green couches being. The only thing that seemed to be untouched was Kuroto's desk.

Even the ping pong table was missing. It wasn't even with the other furniture, just gone, so he said a quick, joking prayer to the place where he spent more than a few really good makeout sessions with Hanaya to spite Kuroto. With that done, he slowly moved over to the mess of furniture, all draped with cloth. Kiriya noted the curtain rods over some of the windows were broken or completely torn from the walls with a quick scan of the room, confirming his suspicions that most of this fabric was the drapes. Between the shelves and cloth and assorted furniture, Kiriya could make out the shape of the green couches pushed together from the light of two floor lamps, holding up more cloth and generally being fire hazards. The coffee table normally between them was haphazardly shoved aside.

The way this makeshift structure was set up vaguely made him think of a tent or a cave and curiosity was starting to get the best of him. This could be a trap set by Kuroto since he had frequent, often hostile, guests, himself included. But again, it's not like anyone would miss him if he were gone, and if it got vital info to the others, checking this out was worth the risk.

With that resolve, he pushed past the curtains and sheets to make his way over to the couches. They had a sheet thrown over them to make a sort of canopy, and a low growl rumbled from beneath as he approached. Maybe this was a new kind of Bugster? Or Kuroto invested in some kind of pet and made it a weird home.

He lifted the edge of the sheet carefully, peering underneath, but he couldn't really make out what was on the couches. Deciding, fuck it, he threw the cover back and revealed…

Graphite...?

The dragon Bugster was in his human form and curled up on the seats of the two couches, padded with shreds of pillow foam and fabric, blankets, and some still-intact throw cushions surrounding him in a sort of nest. Graphite blinked against the sudden shift in light and looked around, locking eyes with Kiriya, making his breath catch in his throat. The Bugster's eyes were glassy and unfocused, like he'd just woken up, or wasn't completely aware of what was happening.

Kiriya looked around the space nervously, trying to figure out what was wrong with him when a hand came up and grabbed his shirt, giving it a sharp tug and pulling him into the nest.


	2. Chapter 2

Kiriya flailed as he was dragged into the couches, trying to get free, but Graphite's hold on him was a steel vice. Once he was fully in, the hands shifted onto his shoulders, pinning him down. He kicked out, which was met with a sharp growl and a hand grabbing his leg, slamming it back onto the cushions.

This wasn't the Graphite he was familiar with. Any other time, he'd be challenging him to fight, pulling out that device to transform, or maybe even wearing that little smirk of his. Sure, the dragon Bugster wasn't the most verbal, but he should've strung at least one sentence together instead of just growling and snarling. Kiriya looked for a way to potentially escape when he saw it…

Pale green, a little mottled with dark brown and black. The texture was bumpy, almost scaly compared to others he'd seen, but there was no mistaking it. There was an egg poking out from a mess of cloth he recognized as Graphite's jacket-scarf hybrid, and now that Kiriya was really looking, he could see other uneven shapes under the cloth.

"What the hell?" Kiriya breathed, but he didn't have long to think about it because he was being pinned under Graphite's weight, hands covering his wrists and shins across his own to keep him immobile.

The dragon was still careful of the eggs, but he wouldn't let up on Kiriya, burying his face into the doctor's hair and inhaling deeply. Kiriya tensed. Was Graphite… smelling him? This was so weird. Graphite made a soft, approving sigh and leaned down to press his nose against Kiriya's throat, and taking another big sniff of him making Kiriya shrink away, trying to squeeze his face to his shoulder to shove Graphite away. A low, content growl came from his chest, and he pressed his lips to Kiriya's skin, so he felt the "smells nice" grumbled against him.

Kiriya's eyelids fluttered in shock, but once he had some time to process, the pieces came together quickly. This wasn't just something _like_ a nest. It was _actually_ Graphite's nest.

And he had _eggs_ for some godforsaken reason. What the hell was Kuroto thinking when he programmed his video games to have this feature?

As he had his breakdown over Kuroto's and his own life choices that led to this particular moment, Graphite got off him, maneuvering him until they were cuddled together and Kiriya was gently propped against him in a way he could feel the eggs pressing against his belly, but wasn't in any danger of crushing them if he ended up squirming to get more comfortable.

Great, and now he was being used as a space heater for eggs. Was this how the boss Bugsters were created? Did Kuroto have some kind of sick farming set up using Graphite? The dragon definitely seemed to be out of sorts, so if he was drugged up, or whatever the code equivalent of that was…

Kiriya suddenly felt extremely uncomfortable being here, and Graphite seemed to sense that, nuzzling his face against Kiriya's hair and making inhuman noises in a way that was probably supposed to be soothing. It only did more to set him on edge, and he struggled against the dragon, hoping he would stop, which only made Graphite hold him tighter and let out some kind of soft rumbling sound. Finding the struggle to be fruitless for now, Kiriya went limp in Graphite's arms. He still felt incredibly uncomfortable, physically from the itchiness of the foam shreds against his skin, and emotionally from the prospects of what was happening here. But eventually, Graphite's little coos and the gentle contact helped to settle his nerves a bit.

Seemingly satisfied with his job of comforting Kiriya, Graphite stopped rubbing against him and just held him close. They laid there for what felt like hours until the Bugster seemed to eventually drift off. Kiriya shifted back to confirm, noting Bugsters apparently needed sleep as an interesting fact, and carefully extracted himself from Graphite's arms. The dragon stirred a bit, and Kiriya froze, waiting for him to settle back down. He just stared at Graphite's sleeping face, distress in the furrow of his brows and the pull of his mouth. Kiriya swallowed hard, and reached out a shaky hand. Graphite seemed extremely receptive to touch right now, and Kiriya gently stroked his face, trying to smooth away the expression and brush some stray bangs from his eyes. Graphite reacted almost immediately, instinctively pressing up into the contact until Kiriya let his hand settle on Graphite's shoulder.

He waited for the dragon to sleep a little deeper before continuing his escape attempts and he could feel every second of the slow march of time before Graphite stopped reacting to any movements he made. Finally, Kiriya slowly crawled his way out of the nest, careful not to disturb it. Every step was deliberate and soft until he finally made his way past the outer layer of curtains then made a break for it.


	3. Chapter 3

Kiriya dashed through the office door, down the hall to the elevator lobby, any stealth or caution he used to get into the building was the last thing on his mind now. One of the elevators was opening as he reached the lobby, and he dashed into it, nearly bowling over the guy coming out, who just happened to be the last person he wanted to see. Dan Kuroto, and he wasn't alone. The elevator was crowded with a handful of other employees, including some security guards.

Just his luck...

Everything was a blur from there. Kiriya stumbled backward, narrowly dodging one of the security guard's attempts to grab him. He never looked back as shouts to stop, and other incomprehensible phrases echoed down the hallways after him as he sprinted away, uncaring of where he ended up, as long as it was away from here. He cursed himself for not learning the layout of this place beyond the fire escape, the elevators and Kuroto's office, which were all pretty much in the same place, and he was far, far away from them at this point.

He rounded a corner and saw a door at the end of the hall. Pouring on speed to make it there, he hoped it locked from the other side, as he heard the yelling and pounding of feet against the tile get louder behind him. He burst through the door and groaned a little at seeing _stairs._ Building security was seemingly hot on his heels, and the lock on the door needed a key, so there was nothing to do but go up.

Kiriya dashed up the steps two at a time, hearing the door slam open behind him a few seconds later. He fought his instincts to flinch and look back, turning the corner sharply to get to the next flight of stairs. There was another door at the top, and he nearly slammed into it as he burst through. Kiriya pressed his back against it immediately to slam it shut. He looked for a lock on the door and slammed a fist against when he found none. It would take some kind of miracle to get him out of this.

And that's when Graphite showed up out of fucking nowhere, looking pissed. Kiriya flinched away from the door, wondering how he got past the guards when he remembered, oh right, Bugsters could teleport. Well, at the very least, maybe Kiriya could create some kind of scandal for Genm before Graphite inevitably tore him apart, or he got arrested for illegal entry. If those guards found out about Graphite… He felt a little bad about taking advantage of Graphite's addled state, but he needed to press any advantage he could get here, and that was one of them. He backed away from the door, letting the guards get through to find them both and also keeping his distance from the Bugster, not paying attention to how close the edge of the roof was.

Kiriya felt himself pitch backward and for a stomach-churning moment, everything seemed to go in slow motion as he tipped over the edge. Then, everything was moving way too fast, wind whipping past his ears and making his eyes ache. He shut them and tried to come to terms with dying, but he didn't have long to process the idea because an arm wrapped around him. The wind was too strong for him to open his eyes, but suddenly everything was slowing down, and he finally squinted up into bright sunlight, only for it to be blocked out a second later by a giant, bat-like wing.

He wasn't exactly sure when it happened, but the arm around him had suddenly become a claw that easily wrapped around his torso. He gripped onto it for dear life as his slowed descent turned into a rapid and terrifying ascent. Buildings whooshed by in a blur, making him feel like he was on a roller coaster. Looking down, he managed to pick out the Genm roof, seeing the security guards only now starting to burst out onto the scene to look around confusedly before clouds obscured his vision.

Shivering a little, Kiriya was grateful he at least had the foresight to pull his jacket on before all this happened and looked up to see what had happened to Graphite. He couldn't even contain his shocked gasp as he took in emerald green scales with sharp black and pale green patterns across them. The clouds obscured his view of most of Graphite, but he was still looking at a _dragon_. Logically, he knew why this was happening, and it was Dan Kuroto's computer programming bullshit, but it still didn't detract from the awed feeling.

Kiriya looked down at the talon he was being held in and brushed his hand against glaringly bright red scales. Yup, even if his brain couldn't fully process this, Graphite had definitely been the one to rescue him. He didn't know why since Graphite seemed so upset on the roof, but he had a weird enough day he decided any more questions could wait until they were back on solid ground.

It felt like ages as they wheeled around in the sky, Graphite effortlessly circling with his powerful wings, seemingly waiting and watching for something. When whatever he was waiting for happened, he folded his wings and hurtled down in a nosedive. The Genm roof came into view again, and Kiriya realized what Graphite was doing, making his stomach start doing flips as they approached at increasing speeds. When he thought they were going to crash, Graphite flung out his wings, slowing their descent enough for him to land gently on the roof with his hind legs, setting Kiriya down as his whole body shuddered and waves of pixels rippled across his scales. Kiriya backed up to finally get a look at him, and he found himself wondering why Graphite wasn't like this all the time.

Of course, there were logistics and all kinds of things to worry about with a real dragon flying around Japan, getting him through doors and where to keep him, but Kiriya couldn't imagine Graphite being happy confined to a human or humanoid form when he could look like _this._ He didn't get to savor the majesty of Graphite's dragon form for long, as his body shrank and shifted, rearranging and bubbling over with the virus until he was in his humanoid monster form.

For a brief moment, Kiriya wished he looked human again since that was much easier to read. He wanted to know just how much trouble he was in. But instead, Graphite marched over to him the second he was finished transforming and grabbed Kiriya by his shoulder. The hand slid over to his back, and he bent down a little to knock Kiriya's legs out from under him with his other arm, wrapping it around the backs of his knees.

Kiriya took a few seconds to figure out what just happened and immediately started squirming when he realized he was being princess carried. Graphite just rumbled at him and headed to the door.

"What are you doing?" Kiriya asked, voice going up a few pitches.

"You can't teleport," was the grunted response.

Kiriya squirmed as they stood in front of the door, "Okay, where are you taking me then?"

Graphite nudged him towards the knob, silently asking him to open it, and Kiriya sighed, twisting it so they could get through together.

Satisfied, Graphite mumbled, "Eggs'll get cold" as they made their way down the stairs.

He sighed, putting his head against Graphite's chest. Figures the plan was to return to the nest. At least he could enjoy lying against muscular dragon tiddies until he was back in the climate control cube.

Thankfully, Kuroto wasn't anywhere in sight to catch him in this embarrassing position this when they re-entered the office. He was probably dealing with the security guards who he just "disappeared" on. Graphite placed him inside, gentler than he expected, but seeing the eggs again reminded him of the reason why.

Now that they didn't have layers of mismatched cloth and a Bugster laying over them, he could see there were five, all in varying shades of green and black and with patterns similar to what he could see of Graphite's scales across them. The eggs seemed roughly the size of his palm, though it was hard to tell since their bottom halves were covered up by the blankets, bunched up to create a mini nest around them with bits of foam, kept somewhat safe and warm as Graphite was away. Speaking of, he was still in his monstrous form as he crawled inside, throwing the sheet over the couches to cover them, and taking the spot he had earlier. Kiriya only put up minimal resistance when Graphite pulled him close, not seeing any value in fighting it.

Seems like he was stuck here for the time being, but maybe he could get some answers out of Genm and the Bugsters until another escape opportunity presented itself.


	4. Chapter 4

All the excitement from earlier wiped Graphite out, so he fell asleep pretty immediately with his face buried in Kiriya's hair and the eggs between them kept warm. Kiriya wished he could guarantee they'd be safe, but he tended to toss and turn in his sleep ever since Zero Day. Maybe he'd just stay awake until Graphite woke up again and could protect the eggs from his flailing limbs because he was certain the Bugster would really kill him if anything happened to them.

In the meanwhile, Kiriya decided to use this time to get a little more comfortable and research. He sat up, uncaring of how Graphite stirred as he unbuttoned his shirt and pulled his binder off, folding it and setting it behind him before rebuttoning and carefully laying back down. Once he was comfortable, and Graphite stopped blindly reaching out for him with a distressed expression, he took out his phone to start searching for reptile facts. He couldn't exactly google "dragon egg gestation time" and get reliable answers, for obvious reasons, so he started with big reptiles that would be as close to Graphite as he could get on what he knew. He stifled an outraged cry when he read the gestation period for crocodilian eggs was 60-65 days. He couldn't be here for _that_ long. Maybe Graphite was more like a Komodo Dragon?

Once he found the answer, he prayed to anything and everything that would listen that Graphite wasn't like a Komodo dragon. Their incubation period a whopping 7-8 months, and neither the Bugster Crisis or Dan Kuroto were going to wait that long. Going through a few other zoology blogs and Wikipedia articles gave him hope that maybe this wasn't going to be a terrible wait. Hatching seemed to be determined by temperature and other environmental factors. The periods were ridiculously long for every species, but maybe Graphite pulled him in to speed up the process. Optimistically, he could be looking at only a month or two in the nest. Not that he had that time to spare or wanted to be here that long, but until he could find a guaranteed way to escape, he would have to plan around it.

After sending an email off to Nisshi and the head of the forensics department that he'd be out sick tomorrow, Kiriya noted it was already past midnight. He didn't feel tired, but the arms around him were comforting, now that they were guaranteed not to hurt him. Until Graphite snapped out of whatever this was, at least.

The claws and spikes were still a bit unsettling, but they didn't bother him as much as he thought they would. How long had it been since he'd just been held like this? It made him miss… well, best not to dwell on those thoughts.

He tried to keep his mind off things by going back to his reptile research, learning more about their anatomy and life cycles than he'd ever wanted to know. Eventually, he drifted off, letting the phone fall from his hands into the tangle of blankets beneath them.


	5. Chapter 5

It was hot.

Unbearably hot.

This was ridiculous, like summertime when the apartment's air conditioning broke down levels of hot and humid.

Kiriya shifted uncomfortably, feeling the sticky drag of his jacket lining against his sweaty skin and sucked in an irritated hiss through his teeth. He really needed to stop sleeping in his work clothes, especially on top of whatever was making him so overheated and itchy…

He froze when he finally registered the arms around him, the memories of yesterday crashing down on him. Kiriya's eyes shot open to the sight of a sleeping Graphite, back in his human form, for whatever reason. His gaze flicked down to the eggs and he saw them covered up with Graphite's wrap again, so he must've gotten up at some time during the night.

He wiggled an arm out of the dragon's embrace and felt around for his phone. It took him a minute, but he ended up finding it buried deep beneath layers of sheets and shredded pillow foam. This stuff was pretty uncomfortable to lie on, so it had to be for insulation purposes. Or, who knows, maybe Bugsters enjoyed the feeling of scratchy foam. Maybe he could ask Graphite questions and finally get answers today, and if he did, he could bring that up if he remembered. Kiriya checked his phone, seeing it was an hour before his usual wake up time, and shoved the device back into his pocket. Now that he was a little more awake and aware, Kiriya suddenly worried about the eggs. What if he cracked one in his sleep? He had no idea if he shifted around, and while he didn't remember if his dreams from last night were the bad kind, that hadn't stopped him from waking up bruised, on the floor, or completely tangled in the sheets before.

Maybe it was better not to know. What was he going to do if he found out anyways? Hide it from Graphite? Yeah, right. With how quickly he got caught yesterday, the Bugster was bound to find out. He sighed and turned to lie on his back. This position was hell on his neck and shoulder without any kind of support and he needed one thing that didn't make his head hurt this morning.

Graphite noticed the change and sat up suddenly. Kiriya caught his eyes, and they were clearer than yesterday. God, he really hoped his theory of Kuroto running some kind of weird operation on Graphite wasn't true. He shouldn't be feeling remorse for a sentient virus, something that was proud of killing a human and would probably do it again until humanity was wiped clean from the face of the earth if given the chance. But spending so much personal time with the Bugster was making it hard to keep seeing him objectively. He tried to remind himself that Graphite was nothing more than a virus he could glean answers to solving this crisis for when the dragon's eyes went sharp with recognition.

"Lazer?" Graphite asked in a voice still low and husky from sleep, and Kiriya tried to ignore the flash of heat that sent down his already sweaty back.

"Hey there Graphite…" It felt weird calling him by his first name. It's not like he had any other names to go by, but it felt way too upfront and casual when that was far from the relationship they actually had.

But instead of any questions Kiriya expected like: "why are you here?" or "what happened?" or maybe even a "get the fuck out of my den" Graphite just mumbled, "Why did you move away?"

"Um, what?"

"You moved away." His repeated, face completely stoic.

What did he say here? He could just be truthful and say his neck felt uncomfortable. Or, he could even go even more blatant and say he had places to be and didn't want to be here. Any lies that came to mind weren't good enough covers.

"This position was bad for my neck, wasn't sure if I was allowed to—"

Graphite immediately leaned down to grab a pillow and placed it where his head used to be. Kiriya swallowed hard and nervously slid over to resume his position with proper neck support this time.

"Stay here," Graphite demanded. Once he deemed the human was comfortable, he flung the sheet canopy open and started crawling out.

"Um? Hello? Where are you going?" Kiriya sat up.

Graphite turned back to him when he was standing outside of the nest and put a gentle hand on his shoulder to push him back down, "Stay."

Before Kiriya could protest more, Graphite threw the sheets back over the couches. There was a tense silence as Graphite stood over him, watching, probably making sure Kiriya and the eggs wouldn't go anywhere. Eventually, he heard the click of the two lamps outside being shut off, then footsteps heading away from the nest and leaving the office.

Well, while he was gone…

Kiriya shifted Graphite's jacket thing to reveal the eggs, moving the cloth around since he didn't trust himself to touch them for inspection just yet. When he had them all unwrapped, they thankfully looked fine. Some of the uneasiness lifted from his chest, and now that he was feeling braver, he reached out and grabbed one. He immediately noticed the strange smooth-rough texture as his fingers brushed it and then flipped his wrist to hold it up to his face. The flat parts of the scales felt mostly like a regular shell, but there was a little more slide to them, like glass or metal when he ran his thumb over it. But the edges of the scales and were a little rough, and this one in particular seemed to be growing little ridges down the centers of each scale that he could feel poking into his palm and catching on his skin as it dragged across the surface.

This one was mostly grass green, with black at the tip that roughly faded into the main color as splotches and speckles. He gently put it back with the others and debated inspecting them, too, but he heard footsteps outside of the nest again and quickly wrapped them back up in their makeshift blanket. He carefully laid back down just in time for the roof sheet to be lifted again, Graphite standing over them menacingly.

He raised his chin briefly in what Kiriya thought was a greeting but apparently was meant for him to move when the Bugster's expression grew irritated and he repeated the gesture more exaggeratedly. He sat up quickly and scooted backward to give Graphite space, only now noticing the armful of bottles and bags he had. The dragon laid his haul into the nest, pushing it towards Kiriya then settling in to sit crosslegged.

"What's this?" he asked, watching Graphite gather the eggs into his wrap, making a sort of bag or hammock to transport them to his lap.

The Bugster refused to meet his eyes, more preoccupied with making sure the eggs were comfortably seated, "You need to eat."

Kiriya slowly reached out for a bottle of water, "Well, yeah, but… I'm surprised you'd go out of your way like that for me," he cracked it open and sipped it.

The wash of liquid down his throat made him realize how dehydrated he was, probably from sweating all night, and he tilted his head back before he could even think about it. He took a few desperate gulps, uncaring how it dripped from the corners of his mouth and over his chin. When he'd taken out more than half the bottle, he lowered it and wiped the worst of the spills away with the back of his wrist.

Graphite didn't give an answer, just watching him intently, making Kiriya the slightest bit unnerved. He just smiled back in response and took another swig of water. He watched Graphite tend to the eggs for a little, just checking on them and making sure they were evenly wrapped up and warm with the sheet canopy off and only one body for heat. But eventually, Graphite looked up and frowned at Kiriya, snorting disappointedly. Before he could ask what was wrong, Graphite leaned forward and shoved one of the bags of snacks his way.

"Eat."

Kiriya looked down at it, trying not to let his distaste show for the pack of umeboshi that smacked him in the shin. But the sour expression was quickly overtaken by a smirk as he deliberately chose something else closer to the dragon, just to see Graphite's reaction. It was a little underwhelming, he just kept watching Kiriya with that hawk-like glare, but there was potential for something interesting here. He opened the bag of strawberry chocolates he happened to grab and popped a few in his mouth, trying to make it look like he was minding his own business, but keeping Graphite's face in his peripherals.

He ended up getting something completely different from the reaction he was expecting, because Graphite looked relieved. There were hints of other things in his face but Kiriya didn't have enough to go on to figure out what.

"So… Are you gonna still be cryptic, or are you gonna tell me what's up with all this?" Kiriya asked. Graphite just pushed a packet of bread his way and Kiriya had to laugh, picking it up and offering it to him, "Maybe you should eat, too if you're going to be all grumpy like this. C'mon, use your big boy words, I know you can."

Graphite just shoved it back towards him with a flash of panic in his eyes, "It's for you! I have to provide—" he cut off abruptly, staring intently down at the eggs and flushing bright red, hands retracting like he'd been burned.

A laugh bubbled up out of Kiriya and Graphite lifted the little bundle from his lap to kick at him, sending the snacks skidding and flying across the sheets in the wake of his foot. Well, he discovered Bugsters could blush, and almost got a sentence out of Graphite that was much more telling than anything he learned from nature blogs last night. He thought this was all going to be a bore, but this stay might still give him some vital info on the virus _and_ be entertaining along the way.


	6. Chapter 6

The rest of the morning went quietly, Graphite focused in on his eggs, completely ignoring Kiriya's questions about what was going on here. A little frustrated that he wasn't getting anything out of the dragon anymore, he started offering food to get a rise out of him like last time. His chuckles were broken up by Graphite's rough protests of "Stop!" and "I don't even need to eat," shoving his hands away. Kiriya even got him to set the eggs aside and crawl over to him to press the melon pan he was offering to his chest seriously, locking eyes with him and growling out, " 's for you."

When Kiriya had enough of vending machine food and fishing for reactions from Graphite, the dragon laid the eggs back in their spot and grabbed at his arm to make him lie back down. Kiriya pulled his arm back, turning away to slide his shirt off and struggle back into his binder, made a little easier from his skin not being drenched in sweat like it was earlier that morning. This time, the dragon seemed to take the hint and just waited for him, instead of pawing and tugging at him until he laid back down. Once he was decent, he turned around and shuffled over to Graphite, carefully cuddling in with him to resume his temporary job as a space heater.

His phone vibrated in his pocket and Graphite huffed and grumbled at the sound. Kiriya just took it out to see an email from Nisshi's personal account to his own.

> To: Island Boy  
>  From: nishiwaki.y  
>  Subject:
> 
> You playing hooky has to do with the virus, doesn't it? Riko said she went by your place with soup after she stopped by the hospital to drop off my lunch, but your neighbors said you haven't been in since you left yesterday morning. Sorry for being accusatory if you are actually sick and take care. But if you're snooping around to do weird research, I'm not covering for you. Shirogane's worried about you since Hojo brought you in unconscious and I don't know how long I can keep her in the dark about this.

Regretting the fact he missed out on some of Riko's cooking that wasn't stolen from Nisshi's bentos, Kiriya pouted a little as he typed his reply.

> RE: (no subject)
> 
> Yes, it's the virus and I don't know how long I'll be away. Hold out as best you can and text me after work if you need help coming up with excuses for the boss. See you soon, hopefully.

With that done, Kiriya pocketed his phone again and Graphite pulled him closer, burying his face in his neck and breathing deeply again. The action was a little less unnerving now, but it was still weird. He was about to try asking what was so appealing about his scent when the door to the office opened.

Graphite raised up onto his elbow, looking every bit like a wild animal as he glared up at the sheets, his gaze following the sound of footsteps heading towards Kuroto's desk. When they stopped there he glared in the general direction of the desk and snorted, laying back down and pulling Kiriya even closer to him.

A second set of footsteps came out of nowhere right next to Kuroto's desk, wandering around until he heard something heavy flopping down onto cushions or a pile of fabric. Kiriya could make out a somewhat familiar voice but he couldn't exactly place it. Graphite wasn't hostile towards the newcomer so it must be someone he considered an ally. Another Bugster? The dragon didn't seem to have any affections for humans… not counting the current situation, of course. Figuring he could keep poking for answers later, he decided to listen in on whatever was happening at Kuroto's desk.

"Every time," Kuroto said angrily, "Why does he always have to do it here? Does he know how inconvenient this is?"

"If you didn't want him to do this, why'd you program eggs into Drago Knight Hunter?" The other voice said distractedly.

A heavy sigh, "Because there should be some balance in the kinds of quests players do, and egg fetch quests make gameplay much more interesting and difficult without having to unfairly program the monsters. I didn't know he'd become hormonal and troublesome if he became a fully formed Bugster."

At 'egg fetch quests' Graphite started growling, sharp and rumbling against Kiriya's neck. He could feel the teeth bared against his skin and swallowed hard, squeezing his eyes closed. The sound suddenly cut short, Graphite's snarl softening into a surprised, open shape against his skin. The conversation stopped, seemingly waiting to see what the dragon would do. After a few moments of nothing, they started up again.

"He didn't like that."

"He's infuriating."

"Again, you made his personality."

"But he doesn't have to roost here. There's a perfectly good roof he spends most of his time on anyway. It's inconvenient to deal with him and conduct business like this."

"Oh, you have to use the 15th-floor conference room, what a tragedy."

Kiriya's fist clenched in the sheets, he finally figured out who that voice belonged to. It was that bastard that was using the Dark Ex-Aid suit last time. He trembled, trying to hold himself back from sneaking out of the nest and doing something very stupid to get proof to show Emu. Graphite seemed to pick up on his intent, making those soft cooing noises again and brushing fingers through his hair.

The sounds were making it hard to hear, so Kiriya took a slow, deep breath, trying to calm himself and get Graphite to stop. Whatever the other person was saying came to a halt and Kiriya suddenly felt eyes their way. He swallowed hard, not wanting to find out what would happen if he was discovered. Eventually the dragon quieted down, but the hand in his hair kept scratching against his scalp in a soothing way and the conversation outside tentatively started back up again.

"You think he's singing to the eggs again?"

Another heavy sigh from Kuroto, "Yes, because he's stubborn like that. They won't even hatch, so this whole thing is pointless. He should just spare us all some time and get rid of them."

"Well, you said it yourself earlier, hormonal and stubborn."

Kiriya's fingers clenched in the sheets again, but a soft peck against his throat drew his attention, and he blanked out for a moment. Seemed like Graphite sensed he was still upset and figured out a quieter way to try and comfort him. While unexpected and strange, he couldn't say the contact wasn't entirely unwelcome. He took a quiet, shuddering breath, trying to get his mind back on track and listen in again, but it seemed like Kuroto and the other person were done for the day. He didn't even hear footsteps out, but Kuroto seemed to be alone.

The other Dark Ex-Aid was definitely a Bugster, then. He wanted to find a way to get that info out, but he had an armful of dragon he needed to figure out what to do with first.


	7. Chapter 7

Kuroto stayed at his desk and worked for a while as Kiriya laid in wait to see what he'd do. Graphite seemingly grew bored of Kiriya and shuffled over to tend to the eggs, wrapping them up in blankets to make sure they were covered, even going as far as to make a little pillow fort around them. If he were paying more attention, Kiriya would probably wonder what Graphite was preparing them for, but since he was preoccupied, he barely noticed. Kuroto was still meticulously typing away at his laptop when Graphite made his move, pushing Kiriya face down into the sheets, who had to choke off his surprised grunt.

By the time Kiriya realized what was happening, Graphite was already perched on him like he was a precious treasure trove. It was uncomfortable, especially compared to the marginal freedom he was allowed that morning, just lounging around and eating snacks. It made Kiriya wish he'd gotten out of the nest to stretch his legs and walk around before Graphite pulled the sheets back over them. But, to make the situation go from uncomfortable to unbearable, Graphite suddenly shifted to his monster form, almost suffocating Kiriya with his bulk and the sudden increase in body temperature, made worse by the sheets keeping in all the fucking _heat._ Kiriya tried to look over his shoulder and ask Graphite what the hell he was doing when sharp teeth suddenly pricked at the sides of his neck. He choked off the surprised cry he made, hands flying to his mouth and burying his face back into the cushions to stifle any noises.

Kiriya's mind was reeling from the situation, so it took him a few minutes of freaking out before realizing what was going on. This was a courting gesture.

He read about it late into the night, so some of the details were foggy, but he remembered reading something about some species of reptiles mounting their partners and biting their necks until they were ready to mate. But why would Graphite want that now? The eggs were already born, and apparently not going to hatch if he heard right. And of all times, he had to be doing this when Kuroto was around— oh wait... maybe it was _because_ Kuroto was around. Graphite wanted to make his claim on Kiriya known. So that explained the pillow fort around the eggs.

As flattering as it would be for someone as attractive as Graphite to want him, Kiriya was sure the Bugster's interest was only because they locked eyes in his hormonal nesting state and his weird interest in Kiriya's scent. So, he tensed up and tried to struggle away, but the teeth only dug in harder, clamping down on a new spot whenever Kiriya would manage to wriggle away. They wrestled like that for a while, trying to be careful of the eggs and not to make too many suspicious noises that would alert Kuroto. But like Dan the man himself said, Graphite was stubborn, and it wasn't too long until he and the humidity wore Kiriya down. He slumped into the cushions defeatedly, his whole body going slack and Graphite snorted victoriously against the back of his neck. He half expected the dragon to just take his surrender as a cue to start getting busy, but the teeth just stayed clamped around his neck. Kiriya hoped he'd either take what he wanted or crawl off soon, but Graphite continued to perch on him, like this was going to be their weird new resting position until he deemed Kiriya's stay over.

It took quite a bit of wiggling and some grunts of protest from Graphite, but Kiriya eventually got his phone from his pocket. He figured if they were going to be like this for a while, he might as well try to find whatever article he read about this behavior in preferring to get an estimate of how long Graphite would keep him pinned rather than thinking of the logistics of a jaw and teeth on the monster form's normally mouthless face. As he scrolled through his search history, the teeth in his neck started to loosen their hold, and the claws on him let go, planting themselves in the sheets and pressing up slightly to alleviate the pressure from his weight.

Graphite started making a low trilling noise, squeezing Kiriya's neck gently with his teeth, but he just ignored it, opening an article and scanning it for what he needed. When he got to the end, he moved on to the next one, and they laid like that for what felt like hours as Kiriya read through page after page, and Graphite just purred into his neck softly, breaths tickling the sensitive skin back there. It distracted him for a moment from his reading, since he wondered why computer code, virus cultures, or whatever Graphite was made out of would simulate breathing but not other bodily functions. He shook himself out of that tangent quickly enough, trying to refocus on the task at hand. Eventually he found the article he wanted and he slammed his head into the sheets with a defeated sigh. Graphite flinched but reasserted his hold on Kiriya.

"You're gonna keep me here for hours?" Kiriya whined quietly.

Graphite squeezed down on his neck again, grunting in what was probably affirmation. Kiriya tsked, closing the web browser frustratedly. The stupid article didn't even explain how to turn the gesture down. He opened up some puzzle game he downloaded recently, instead of thinking on it further. Might as well keep himself occupied while they waited this out.

Time seemed to drag out from that point, every minute feeling like an eternity. The heat and pressure on Kiriya's body made the wait even more exhausting. Graphite continued to make little purrs or trills into his neck, and he seemed happy up there. Kiriya figured he might as well let the Bugster have this. The whole time they'd been together, he'd been antsy over protecting the eggs or frustrated and concerned over Kiriya's varied escape attempts, working overtime to placate him and keep him in the nest. If he could ease the Bugster's stress a little by doing this, he tried not to mind it too much, as terrible and sweaty as he felt.

Kiriya made it through a few more levels when his battery was starting to die, and Graphite seemed to decide that was enough. He dismounted and crawled over to curl protectively around the eggs again, leaving Kiriya to heave a thankful sigh, as he rearranged himself into a more comfortable position and shuffled to the opposite edge of the couches. Graphite didn't seem to mind, just taking the pillows away and huddling closer to compensate for the missing body heat.

As he watched, Kiriya absentmindedly felt around his neck. It was a bit tender where Graphite's fangs dug in, but miraculously, there was no blood or cuts. He could feel where there'd be terrible bruising later, but he could deal with that, he'd had much worse looking marks before... 

Well, there were much more interesting things to think about anyways. Graphite could drastically modify his body, so minor changes like blunting his teeth to make sure Kiriya's scaleless, squishy throat didn't get punctured wasn't too far out of the realm of possibility. There were implications behind the action Kiriya wasn't too eager to analyze, so instead, he started theorizing about Bugster shapeshifting capabilities, wondering what else Graphite could modify, and what applied to the other, incomplete Bugsters.

Things got back to being boring quickly, with Graphite still refusing to be verbal and Kuroto hanging around even though he should've taken a lunch break by now. Kiriya decided to let the dragon be so he could sort out his thoughts and cool off, unbuttoning his shirt again and ignoring the eyes on his exposed body.

For a while, the only prominent noise was the click clack of Kuroto hammering away at his keyboard, and it grated on Kiriya's nerves. He needed something else to fill the air, so he started whispering questions to Graphite again, hoping he'd maybe answer, but mostly to keep his mind off more anxious thoughts. When his questions were met with nothing, he tried typing them out on his phone and shoving it in Graphite's face. Predictably, his attempts were shoved away every time, but at least it was something to keep him occupied. His battery hit 5% and he decided, screw it, and started playing games again. If Graphite was going to be uncooperative, he could wait. There wasn't much else to do around here.

When his phone ended up dying a few minutes later, he started to lower it, but a bright red claw latched onto his wrist.

He turned to meet Graphite's dark eyes, and Kiriya's breath caught in his throat when the dragon's tail whipped around, stopping just short of his ribs. It hovered there for a while, seemingly sizing him up and swaying slightly. Then, it started to unravel, layers of scales, and what looked like muscle and bone unspooling in graceful spirals until a third of his tail was a mess of green scales and greyed out fleshy things loosely hanging off a thin tendon of... Kiriya didn't even know what, but it was glowing amber so brightly it looked like a solid beam of light. Before he could make a move, the cord of light shoved itself into his phone's port, making his lock screen turn on. To his surprise, his phone was starting to charge, and pretty quickly at that.

"Dunno how it works, but I can help," Graphite said in a low voice.

Of course, of all the things he could talk about, it was the most trivial—

"Wait, how do you recharge then?" Kiriya asked, "If you don't know should you even be charging my phone?" He raised up on an elbow interestedly.

Graphite placed a hand over his face and shoved it into the pillow, "I just said I didn't know how it works, stop asking questions."

"Hey, I'm just concerned about you for the time we're gonna be together, but whatever I guess," Kiriya rolled his eyes, voice muffled from the claw over his mouth, "If this hurts you, hope you think you’re worth a few rounds of Puzzles and Dragons."

Graphite's only response was to drag him over to his regular spot and hold him close, rumbling something incoherent into Kiriya's hair.

He scowled and squirmed a little out of the hold to get more comfortable on the pillow, then let it go for now. Kiriya clicked his phone off and tugged it up so Graphite's tail was closer to his face. He got a huff and glare but was allowed to continue his inspection. It looked like a glowstick at first glance, but if he looked closer, he could see the surface vibrating... no wait, it was more like it was _squirming._ He'd bet money if he could get Graphite's innards under a microscope it'd look like a writhing mass of worms or some similar organism. Ah, to actually figure out the shape of the virus. He was already trying to calculate how to convince Graphite to maybe come back to Seito with him. Well, in the meantime... he reached out a curious hand and gently brushed his fingers down a length of the tail, his breath stuttering at how it hummed against his skin. It felt like there could be megawatts worth of electricity coursing through Graphite.

Slowly, Kiriya shifted his hand down and cupped the tail in his palm, then tentatively squeezed down. Graphite shifted uncomfortably, and Kiriya stopped for a tense moment, but when nothing happened, he continued to close his hand around the glowing cord. Suddenly a force was tearing through Kiriya's body like nothing he'd ever felt before and he had to drop everything and scramble back, every bone in his body feeling like it was rattling around and his brain buzzing.

By the time he got his bearings, there was still a faint prickling sensation between his skull and his brain, and he felt even sweatier than before, but his body was cold and clammy and tingly in some parts. He forced his head to an angle where he could see Graphite, mouth open, and ready to ask questions but he got distracted by the tail moving again. The "flesh" and scales wound back up rapidly until his tail was mostly reconstructed. The only glowing part left exposed was the tip, still plugged into Kiriya's phone. He tried to ask something, anything, again when the familiar sound of combat boots against tile drew his attention.

"You know, out of all professions, I'd think doctors would be the ones most familiar with the process of making an appointment," Kuroto suddenly announced, annoyance clearly bleeding into his tone.

"Why the hell would I do that when the door's wide open all the time? Do you even lock this place up when you leave for the night?" Taiga's voice spat back.

Kiriya couldn't make out whatever Kuroto's response was because he was suddenly being crushed into the crook of Graphite's neck, with the dragon seemingly on alert. Oh, right, of course Graphite would be wary of Taiga. With his whole "I'll crush every Bugster" catchphrase and the five year rivalry thing going on. He squirmed a bit to get comfortable but his leg spasmed and he felt his knee jerk into the eggs.

Kiriya froze, feeling his throat close up.

Graphite, however, didn't seem to notice, and Kiriya managed to crane his neck in a way to see the clutch. The blankets had fallen away enough for him to catch a glimpse of the pale green one he saw when he first got dragged into the nest. It was hard to tell if there was any damage with the scales and patterns across it and Graphite's body in the way, but he swore he saw a puff of green pixels spit into the air like little spores from a hairline crack, dissipating as they slowly floated back down towards the blankets. Graphite maneuvered him back against his chest before he could watch anything more, but at least he could hear better this way.

"So what the hell happened to the ping pong table?" He heard Taiga say, accompanied by the sound of him flopping down onto something soft and fabric.

"I put it away. As you can see, the office is currently undergoing renovations," Kuroto replied, voice clearly pointed towards the nest, "Normally I'd be all for unexpected visits from you, but it's a particularly inopportune time. And would you please get off the hammock? It's not for guests."

Taiga scoffed, "What, you working yourself to the bone to fix this crisis by staying nights? Why do I find that hard to believe? Especially with no security around. You oughta do something about that, it's not safe sleeping over if strangers can just walk in."

Kiriya felt himself cringe. Damn, they sounded like heated, bitter exes. Were they exes? He couldn't remember if they were, but they needed to chill out, it was getting way too hot and uncomfortable in here. Or maybe that was just because he was getting crushed into Graphite's pec and he'd spent the better part of the day trapped in a makeshift terrarium. He sort of lost focus from that point, but the next thing Kiriya knew, he was waking up... not in Graphite's arms?

He sat up slowly and flipped the sheets up, stretching out his aching muscles and struggling out of his clothes once again, sighing in relief when cool air hit his back and chest. When he finally looked around, he noticed Graphite huddled in the corner, looking at the small hoard of snacks he brought that morning with a conflicted expression.

"You can have some, y'know," Kiriya encouraged.

Graphite looked like he was going to protest again, so Kiriya rolled his eyes and hopped out of the nest, peeking outside the curtains and noting it was the dead of night from what he could see of the windows. He pulled his shirt back on and gathered up the rest of his stuff, shaking off bits of foam where he could.

"Does this place have showers? I feel gross," He asked. Graphite shrugged, and Kiriya gave him a slight grin, "Well, guess I'll be looking around for _quite_ a while. Sure hope nothing happens to all those delicious snacks you brought me while I'm away," He winked exaggeratedly, and Graphite just raised an unamused eyebrow.

Kiriya turned his back quickly, not wanting to waste any more time explaining. And after a quick scan for Kuroto or the Dark Ex-Aid impostor, he stepped out into the office, hurriedly walking to the door and bursting out into the hallway, relishing in the feeling of the cooler air. He wandered through the darkened, empty halls for a while, peeking through doors and mostly finding offices. Feeling a little braver, he took the stairs down to the next floor, checking through all the rooms and continuing to go down until he actually found a small locker room about five floors down.

Not wasting any time, he went about getting his clothes as washed and dried as he could get them in the sink. He tried to avoid looking in the mirror, but he couldn't help catching glimpses of himself in his peripherals and ended up looking when the state of his neck really hit him.

It was absolutely covered in deep red spots, some already starting to darken and turn purple. There were even a few on his shoulders and he stopped washing his shirt for a moment to press fingers against a spot where his shoulder and neck met. It stung and he hissed a little, biting his lips against a smile. And in the half-light of the bathroom, it was easier to imagine hickies across his chest, too, like Jungo used to leave.

He ended up leaning in, trying to inspect for injuries but Graphite had been gentle in the loosest sense of the term. Kiriya knew Graphite's bruises couldn't mean the same thing Jungo's did, but just for the moment, it was nice to close his eyes, press against a bruise, and pretend he was still loved. After admiring the marks for a while longer, he got back to scrubbing his clothes, doing his best to keep his eyes down the rest of the time.

Once he was done, and he wrung everything out as dry as he could get it, he hung them outside a shower stall to hopefully smooth out a little from the steam. They were probably still going to be wrinkled as fuck, but he wasn't going to complain. This place was a godsend.

When the warm water hit him, he felt relieved. It was like finally rinsing off after a day at the beach and a long car ride home. Bits of chewed up foam even kept falling off him like sand and he really didn't want to think about where they'd been sticking to him, or for how long. He focused on washing off and even did a few stretches to ease the aches in his body and whatever else still felt weird from getting electrocuted by Graphite's tail.

As he did, he thought about his options. Graphite was seemingly weakened after tending to him and the eggs, and whatever that whole thing with charging his phone was. The Bugster obviously needed to re-energize somehow, and food might've been the answer with the way he was eyeing those snacks, despite his insistence he didn't need to eat from earlier. He wasn't exactly sure how to help Graphite unless he helped himself and ate. Maybe he could grab food from a vending machine and hope Graphite would eat that, but he really didn't know how all this weird dragon nesting stuff worked.

He _could_ just leave. Graphite was trusting enough to let him wander around for this long. And in his state, he probably wouldn't come after Kiriya until he was long gone. The trains probably weren't running at this time, but walking back to his place wouldn't be that big of a problem. He could even crash at Seito if he needed, there was a spare change of clothes there...

He could really do this. He could leave.

Kiriya was about to burst out of the shower stall when the thought of Graphite, alone in the nest with just Kuroto and his lackey or whatever hovering outside, talking about him like he wasn't there. Kiriya blinked water from his eyes. There were other reasons to stay, too. He still needed to find proof of Kuroto's involvement or at least something that would help him uncover Kuroto's plans or more about the Bugsters, and get that back to CR.

There was also the egg he cracked.

He didn't exactly want to stick around and figure out what Graphite would do to him for that, but on the off chance Kuroto was talking out of his ass and they were actually going to hatch, he needed to explain and apologize, at least.

By the time he finished his shower, he'd made up his mind. He was going to stick around. At least a while longer. He still had things to do here.

When Kiriya got back to the office, Graphite had resumed his duty of laying over the eggs, the sheets still flipped back, as if he was waiting for Kiriya to pull them up. He didn't know what to do with that gesture either, but it made his chest prickle in a way he was eager to ignore. He needed to focus and remember Graphite wasn't genuinely into him. He was still messed up from nesting season instincts or whatever. Kiriya's eyes roamed over the nest, trying to look anywhere but the Bugster and the eggs. Kiriya's eyes eventually landed on the pile of snacks, which remained untouched. He pouted, looking around in the sheets for his phone.

"Y'know, the wink meant you were supposed to eat to your heart's content. I didn't actually want you to protect the food or whatever."

Graphite just huffed in response.

Kiriya continued to search until Graphite finally spoke, "Well, maybe you should've explained better... I wouldn't eat it anyways. It's yours."

"Even if I share?" Kiriya said as he pulled his phone from a whorl of blankets shoved into a corner.

Graphite shoved his face into the sheets, "Can you just come in? They're getting cold."

Sighing dramatically, Kiriya crawled into the nest and drew the sheet over them again. He resumed his position and clicked his phone on, raising an eyebrow at it being at full battery. Well, if Graphite was going to be stubborn, Taiga and Kuroto's conversation gave him some ideas. Surely, Taiga was exaggerating a little, but at least it confirmed that Genm security wasn't as tight as Kiriya initially thought, and he had the perfect person to take advantage of that.

An ace in the hole, as it were.


	8. Chapter 8

    _> Hey Ace, this is Kiriya. Please don't ask how I got your number, this is already weird enough. I need you to do me a huge favor and I'll make it up to you somehow, promise._

Emu stared at the unrecognized number and the string of texts from it with increasing morbid curiosity. He'd gotten yelled at for having his phone out that morning and had to put it in his locker since the nurses glared until he actually put it away after promising not to look at it again. Now that he was off shift, he took a moment to catch up on messages, stumbling on these troubling ones from Kiriya (supposedly). He sprinted down to the morgue in hopes of catching someone familiar with the coroner, and thankfully, his friend who had the Motorz infection was there.

When Emu showed him the unknown number, asking if this was some kind of joke, he heaved a very put-upon sigh and took his phone out. He flipped it around to show Emu his contact for Kiriya, confirming the number frantically texting him was definitely the other coroner. Emu silently took note that the profile picture was of Kiriya asleep on the shoulder of someone out of frame and memorized it for later. It felt like a rare moment of openness he'd never get to see from the other man again... Plus, it was pretty cute.

Nishiwaki turned his phone from Emu's face, snapping him out of his daze to explain Kiriya had been 'out sick' giving him a look saying 'you'd better understand what I mean.' He wished Emu luck with whatever was happening since he got a similar string of texts asking for help. However, he refused to show them, since they were 'personal.' Emu waited around to see if he was going to give any more advice or info but Nishiwaki just made a face asking if they were done. The intern ducked his head embarrassedly, thanking him for his help as he shuffled out of the morgue.

It was strange he hadn't noticed Kiriya around, but to be fair, it's not like he was near the morgue all that often... Even if he tried to keep an eye out for the other Rider more than he'd like to admit.

Emu shook his head to brush the thoughts away, rereading the messages to figure out what to do.

    _> I get it, I've yanked you around a lot, so you're probably not very trusting of me. But you're honestly the only person I can turn to. Nisshi can't help me, he got turned away at the door because he walks unconfidently when he knows he's not supposed to be somewhere. You can get in since Kuroto knows you. Pretend you wanna know more about the gashats or something. I'm sure you can come up with something_

Door to where? Genm, since he mentioned Kuroto? Emu was getting more and more confused as he read through. Sure, he had questions for Kuroto. Among other things... And maybe this would be a good opportunity for a visit, but it raised so many more questions about Kiriya.

    _> Ace, this isn't funny, please answer back. I need help_

It was at that moment, another message from Kiriya appeared.

    _> Emu, I'm completely serious with you right now, I might be dying, please, I'm begging you_

A cold spike of terror went through Emu's heart at that text. Well, if it was life or death, he couldn't look away.

     **< Kiriya-san what do you need? I'll come help right away!**
    _> Ace, thank fuck. I need you to go to McDonalds and get me ice cream. Or one of those blended ice coffees. Anything cold and won't spill easily. Just don't get me a soft serve, if you do, I promise something terrible will happen._

Emu stared at his phone in disbelief. Kiriya needed... what.

     **< Kiriya-san this doesn't seem like you're dying**
    _> Also could you get the 20 piece nuggets? 5 of them if you can. And the fillet-o-fish meal. idk if they still do salad but if you can get one that'd be amazing. Get yourself something too. We can eat together, my treat. I'll have to pay you back when you get here though. Unless you do Line Pay or whatever?_
    _> Please believe me, I've been stuck at Genm for half the week, and all I've had to eat is whatever they have in the vending machines. All of those foods are hot or room temperature and it's a million degrees under here._

There were so many responses Emu could've made but he found his fingers already hitting send on:

    **< thats 100 nuggets,,,**

instead of anything that would help him get a better grasp on the situation.

    _> Oh don't worry. They're not for me_

Emu grimaced. How could Kiriya say that like it wouldn't be alarming for Emu to hear?

And like Kiriya read his mind, a new text came in.

    _> You wouldn't believe me unless you saw it yourself._

Where the hell was he? The server room in the basement was the only place in Genm that could be 'a million degrees,' but what was Kiriya doing there— Oh god, he was looking for proof Kuroto was the Dark Ex-Aid, wasn't he? And he somehow got trapped? But then, why was he asking for take out instead of help escaping?

Emu didn't have much more time to dedicate to the thoughts as his phone vibrated again.

    _> btw can you get sheets? The cooling ones that moisture wick or whatever? preferably 2000 thread ct. _
    **< im sorry WHAT THREAD COUNT?**
    **< i'm an intern not a full time pediatrician Kiriya-san. Do you know what my budget is?**

Kiriya started typing something long in response, based on how the little dots were still going across the screen, so Emu did some searching for sheets to see if 2000 thread count was even possible.

    **< ok do you realize high thread ct is a marketing ploy to hike up prices?**

He sent along some screenshots of the articles he found about it and Kiriya's side stopped typing. Emu waited tensely to see what he'd do, and eventually the dots went by again, Kiriya's text coming in almost immediately this time.

    _> k_
    _> can u get the mcdonald at least? ad some kind o f breathable sheets? ill pa yyou back and w can talk return vafor when you get here_

Emu was starting to realize why Nishiwaki sighed like he did when asked about Kiriya.

    **< what kind of drink do you want with the sandwich?**
    _> cola pls_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kiriya texting Emu at the end like: now listen to me ace, i am talking directly into your ear now. i need you to do me a favor. you will do this for me. i need you to go to mcdonalds— 
> 
> meanwhile Graphite aggressively cuddles him and messes up his typing


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *resurrects this fic from the grave*
> 
> It's been taking so long because I wanted to get Emu's visit in one chapter but it ended up being like 5,000 words and not done yet so I'm chopping it up across (hopefully) two because there's a lot I ended up wanting to cover XD

Emu looked up at the Genm building as he waited for his order from the McDonald's across the street, feeling slightly intimidated about trying to sneak in. He hadn't been there in a while, and it had always been with Kuroto, with a gentle smile and a hand sometimes on his shoulder, to guide him around. Surely, the building was guarded more heavily late at night when people weren’t supposed to be in unless they were in a time crunch.

His order got called up to the pickup counter, snapping him out of his thoughts and almost making him bite his tongue in surprise. Emu quickly walked up to the register and saw them set down a huge bag of food emblazoned with the company logo. He'd never seen a McDonald's bag that was so huge before, it even had a handle, and these definitely weren’t the circumstances he thought he'd be seeing something like this under. Emu always figured if he ever saw a huge McDonald's takeout bag it would be for a party or some kind of huge get-together, not trying to help a coworker from starving to death trapped in a game company.

After thanking the employee for the food, he headed out the sliding door and into the cool evening air. The sun hadn't set just yet, so maybe it wouldn't look too weird walking into a video game company laden down with bags of takeout and sheets. The streets were still busy so it took him some time to walk across the street and down towards Genm, giving him ample time to think about his game plan. Emu didn't have much to go off of besides the cryptic information Kiriya had given him.

He couldn't believe that Kiriya was somehow trapped in Kuroto's office. His _office_ of all places. And "trapped." Emu didn't believe that for a second. Although he agreed to come over and help, he couldn't ignore someone in need, if he was really honest, he was curious to see what Kiriya really had in store for him.

Before he knew it, he was in front of the building and he felt even more nervous as he looked up at it, seemingly looming over him. Emu steeled himself with one last deep breath and then headed inside.

The inside of Genm was just as he remembered it, not so fancy and upscale where it would be intimidating, but not too shabby either, with its shiny tile floors and fancy modern art-esque lamps hanging from the ceiling. Most of the lobby was in warm browns from the wood walls or white from the pillars, ceiling, and floors, broken up by framed promo art for their games. The front desk was far enough from the elevator lobby that Emu could just walk on by, but he felt obligated to at least check in.

The front desk didn't seem to care all that much, honestly. The receptionists just exchanged some bored looks, trying to keep on the masks of politeness as they checked something on their computers, then waved him away, telling him the CEO's office was on the top floor. No wonder those scientists from New Genome were able to break in and catch Kuroto unaware so easily. Or maybe Kuroto just had a VIP list of people involved with the Bugster Crisis and forgot to take them off? But it had been five years, and a list like that seemed more trouble than it was worth giving types like Taiga and Kiriya free reign to just wander in and do whatever they pleased. And wouldn't it look suspicious to have various medical staff waltzing into a video game company all the time to talk to the CEO? They were supposed to be keeping anything and everything about the bugsters as quiet as possible, and yet, here was this issue glaring in the face of secrecy. At least Emu switched in his lab coat for a light pink windbreaker when he left the hospital so he just looked like a normal visitor bringing in an ungodly amount of fast-food when Kuroto was probably already gone for the night.

Emu kept mulling it over until he was in the elevator and came to the conclusion that if Kiriya got into whatever position he was in from trying to use his "detective brain" to solve these strange questions, Emu was probably better off not knowing or thinking about it.

As he rode up to the top floor, various people got on and off, most of them looking tired and about ready to head home for the night. Although some looked like they just got up from naps and were heading back to their computers to get back on the game development Grind. Most of them ignored him or gave polite nods, and some eyed the bag of food enviously.

Emu didn't really get why they'd look at it like that, the McDonald's was just across the street, after all. It wasn't until he overheard a whispered "Oh, someone's so lucky to have someone to bring them food," from a small group of employees as they exited that Emu understood. He was suddenly taken back to the times in medical school when he was up late studying with his friends and one of them would make a late night run to a convenience store and bring back sandwiches or oden for everybody. Emu never felt like he had a family before and those happy, warm nights at med school were one of the first times he ever had a sense of belonging. Excitement bubbled up in his stomach at the idea of being able to share that feeling with Kiriya.

The elevator dinged as it reached the top floor, Emu walked out with a bit of a bounce in his step, re-energized and ready to help his fellow Rider.

When Emu got to the door to Kuroto's office he considered knocking, but thought better of it since Kiriya might not be able to open it for him. He tried the handle, mildly surprised, and mostly concerned for Kuroto when he found it was unlocked so he stepped on through.

The first thing Emu noticed when he stepped through the door was that the office looked drastically different. A lot of furniture was missing and most of it seemed to have moved towards the back of the room and piled into a big structure. At the far back window, the curtains were ripped off their runners and were thrown over the heap of furniture. Emu took a few cautious steps towards it when his phone suddenly went off.

_> ace you here?_

Emu tried to one-handed text a **< yes** back, but a low growl from inside of the pile of furniture distracted him and he cautiously approached it. After pushing through torn up curtains and sheets, the temperature and humidity suddenly shot up and Emu squirmed uncomfortably in his jacket. The dim light inside was enough for him to easily find the unmistakable shape of those two green couches with a sheet thrown over it, the coffee table pushed haphazardly against one of the couch backs, and flanked by two lamps.

There was some shuffling inside of the couch cube and then the sheets were being flung off. Before Emu could flinch he was suddenly wrapped up in a hug from a sweaty, disheveled Kiriya. His skin was burning to the point where Emu could feel Kiriya's warmth through his windbreaker. If Emu didn't know better, he would've thought Kiriya had a fever instead of just being over warm from lying down in a hot, humid environment for who knew how long.

"Thanks for coming, you're an actual lifesaver."

Emu blinked surprisedly, but slowly returned the hug as well as he could. His heart swelled and was suddenly hammering against his chest. Something about this felt different from the hugs Kiriya usually gave him, but he couldn't exactly place what it was, so he just tried to enjoy it while it lasted. Suddenly, all his doubts about the medical examiner were starting to fade away, and he was just wrapped up in the feeling and warmth that was Kiriya. All too soon, they were pulling away from the embrace, and Emu reluctantly stepped back and set the bags down next to Kiriya, suddenly realizing why that hug probably felt different.

It was hard not to notice Kiriya's current state of undress, especially in the chest region, with drops of sweat trailing down his sternum and over the curves of his skin. Emu took note of a wrinkled piece of cloth cut sort of like a crop top in about Kiriya's skin tone left tangled up in the sheets behind him, before his eyes trailed back to Kiriya's neck. Also in the 'hard not to notice' column was all the _hickies_ and other bruises in the shape of teeth littering the skin on Kiriya's neck, spilling down towards his collarbones and shoulders. Emu swallowed roughly and tried his best to hold his tongue, because just having his shirt open with Emu ogling him was probably not the way Kiriya ever envisioned coming out to Emu, if he even planned to at all.

Kiriya didn't even seem to notice how he looked, and if he did, he obviously didn't care because he just rifled through the McDonald's bag until he found the McFlurry Emu got for him. Kiriya immediately leaned into one of the couch arms and tilted his neck to press the cup against the skin there with a relieved sigh. Emu watched him for a while, rotating the cup to press against his forehead, cheeks, chest, anywhere he could get until the condensation started to run out and the ice cream was looking a little melty.

As he watched, Emu started to pick up on some movement under the sheets behind Kiriya who had moved onto eating the McFlurry. Emu leaned in, wondering if he was just seeing things, a question on the tip of his tongue that he never got to ask because suddenly rows of sharp fangs were snapping in his face. Emu stumbled back and fell on his ass, worthlessly flailing for his Gamer Driver that he left in his white coat at work. But now that he was further away from the situation, he was able to see that those jaws belonged to Graphite, who was currently squirming his way into Kiriya's arms while the medical examiner tried his best to push the bugster away without dropping his ice cream.

"Nonono, you're fucking _warm,_ get off!"

Graphite just ignored him and finally seated himself on Kiriya's lap, head tucked as closely as he could get it into the crook of Kiriya's neck with his dangerous-looking beak and fangs, arms wrapped tight around his chest, pressing them flush. Kiriya tried to shove him off with one arm, but couldn't even make Graphite budge, so he just sighed frustratedly, then wrapped his arms around all the spikes, scales and armor and did his best to eat the McFlurry over Graphite's shoulder.

Emu felt his heartrate skyrocketing as he watched the absurd scene unfold in front of him.

_What the hell was this?_


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This ended up being so much longer than the original outline but Emu really wanted to hang around lol

Emu watched the human and bugster curled up in the couches with wide eyes, barely processing the situation. They were still bickering; or more accurately, Kiriya was still complaining about Graphite sitting on his lap and being too hot, while the dragon bugster seemed content to cling to him and cuddle impossibly closer. And Emu meant _impossibly._ He could swear he saw some clipping happening with Graphite's face trying to merge into Kiriya's neck and his claws (probably) harmlessly dipping through the medical examiner's shirt, maybe even into his skin with how deep they were going. 

Completely baffled, Emu was still trying to process everything he was seeing. He was unsure what he should do with any of the information he'd just been handed and decided to continue letting the scene unfold in front of him for now. 

Kiriya struggled to take a few bites of ice cream over Graphite's shoulder, covered in heavy scale armor, and eventually huffed, slumping back against the couch arm, Graphite falling with him as they were apparently glued together. He raised the McFlurry to press it against the dragon's neck and yanked it away to avoid any spillage when Graphite flinched violently from the cool and condensation dripping all over him. His head snapped up to growl at Kiriya, who was completely unfazed. 

"Yeah, that's what you're being like now," Kiriya retorted easily, rolling his eyes. 

Graphite growled something that sounded suspiciously like "fuck you" and cuddled in harder, grumbling to himself. 

They looked so comfortable as they continued their subtle jabs at each other, which started to sound more and more like light banter to Emu. 

All the excitement he had at seeing Kiriya again suddenly leached out of his body, leaving him feeling lost. Was everything a lie? All those casual touches, those warm, sunshine grins, and all those attempts to 'really be honest' with him... Were they all fake? Was Kiriya really just what everyone else thought he was? Some kind of cold, master manipulator that would do anything and everything to get the answers he wanted? Or... 

Emu didn't want to think of the worst-case scenario, but given everything laid out for him to see here, maybe Kiriya was working with the bugsters? It might explain why he was so dead set on Kuroto being behind everything, making the CEO a scapegoat to have them all fighting among themselves so their focus would leave the real enemies. Just as it was starting to sound more and more reasonable, reality came crashing back in and Emu realized how stupid of a move it would be for Kiriya to call him over in this situation. If he really was a master manipulator, why would he bring a potential enemy over to see him in a position that was so compromising? So... intimate... 

Heat rushed to Emu's face as he suppressed any thoughts of what the two of them might've been up to in all the time Kiriya had been missing from work. Meanwhile, Graphite was squirming and twitching again, more condensation had dripped off the cup and onto his scales, seeping between the plates of armor and onto his body. The movements threw Kiriya's spoon hand off, and he nearly choked on the piece of plastic, causing some ice cream to dribble out from the corner of his mouth in a way that looked a bit suggestive to Emu. He resisted all urges to hide his face or fan himself, just willing his blush to fade away and stop spreading further across his face. 

Emu allowed himself a brief, sharp shake of his head to try to jumpstart his brain into thinking rationally again. His thoughts were whirling, and he wouldn't be able to make sense of anything unless he calmed down. Squeezing his eyes shut, he begged his body to just chill out for a minute so he could focus on getting the answers he came for. 

When he opened his eyes again, he was met with Kiriya watching him a bit concernedly. The medical examiner's lips were parted around a question, but he seemed to think better of whatever he wanted to say and just chuckled. 

"Well, it's weird, but c'mon over and eat. You did get yourself food, right?" He gestured Emu over with his head since everything else was occupied. 

"Um..." Emu hesitantly got to his feet, wanting to start questioning Kiriya, but his stomach growled, answering for him. He sighed and shrugged off his windbreaker as Kiriya did his best not to laugh or look amused, and Emu approached the couch, cautiously eyeing his lapful of grumpy dragon bugster. Kiriya stuck the spoon in his cup, placing it carefully on the ground, then waved both hands subtly, as if to show he was ready to help if Emu needed it. 

Despite Emu's initial fears, Graphite seemed perfectly content to just sit there now that Kiriya wasn't flicking cold water droplets at him or placing the cup against his body anymore. Growing more confident, Emu felt comfortable enough to drop his guard while he rifled through the bag for his food. And that's exactly when Graphite tried snapping at him again. Emu flinched away, catching himself on the corner of one of the couches so he didn't fall on his ass again as a firm hand gripped the back of Graphite's neck to keep him in place. 

The bugster struggled against Kiriya's hold for a moment, making him growl, "Hey, none of that. Emu was nice enough to bring food, so let him stay." 

Graphite gave one last tug against Kiriya's hand, then disappointedly curled up against his chest again. Rolling his eyes, Kiriya patted his head gently and the dragon let out a content little trill as he hid his face away. It might've been cute under any other circumstances, but it only added to Emu's rattled state. 

While Kiriya had him distracted, Emu quickly went back to the bags, grabbing his Big Mac, fries, and drink, and placing them a safe distance away on the coffee table. 

"Might be best if you find a chair or something to pull up. He probably won't let you sit with us given how grumpy he's being right now." Kiriya said as he picked his McFlurry up and gestured around, "Take your pick, I'm sure there's something you'll like around here somewhere. It's bound to be more comfortable than in here because of the foam." 

"Foam?" Emu grimaced. 

"Couch cushion foam, he shredded it. I think it's for insulation or something." 

Emu hesitated but thought better of questioning anything that was happening in this bizarro version of Kuroto's office and found a comfy armchair that he was able to easily slide near the couch cube. 

When he finally settled in, Kiriya seemed to have finished his ice cream finally and was rummaging through the bag. Emu started nibbling at his fries while Kiriya popped open one of the boxes of nuggets, holding one out to Graphite. The bugster lifted his head, sniffing at it curiously and slowly taking it from Kiriya's hand. 

Emu watched in vague fascination as Kiriya fed him a few more nuggets until Graphite took it for himself, curling back against him and eating them himself, looking a bit more... human wasn't exactly the word since he wasn't one, but he was seemingly functioning more like the humanoid Emu knew him as. 

Kiriya patted him on the shoulder, seemingly relieved Graphite was distracted with something else, and grabbed his sandwich. After watching him settle in, Emu awkwardly cleared his throat. 

"So that's who the nuggets were for, huh?" 

_Really Emu?_ He cursed himself silently. _That's your opening question?_

Kiriya didn't seem to mind though, and nodded, "Wasn't sure how to get you to believe what I'd gotten myself into, so I figured seeing was the best way." 

“Why not just send a picture?” Emu raised his eyebrows, “I’ve been in the office enough to recognize the furniture, I think.” 

“Would you recognize it all messed up like this, though?” 

Emu nodded and settled back in his chair, “Point. So, you think it’s weird for Graphite to be here?” 

“When has he ever set up a nest in CR? Don’t you think he’d do this in a place he’d feel safe?” 

Emu popped a fry into his mouth as he thought. He had to admit that if Kuroto really let Graphite stay here willingly was suspiciou on its own. But Kiriya had to know how this looked on him as well, being all cuddled up and seemingly familiar with one of their enemies. A murderer, no, a _monster,_ who was seemingly proud enough about it to have no problems reminding the victims left in the wake of Momose's death about what he'd done.

Well... looking at Graphite now, he wasn’t so terrifying. Well, he still was, but it was different. More like a wild animal, instead of the cold, ruthless enemy he’d faced down before, “What if Kuroto did something to him to make him… less threatening, I guess? And he's just getting ready to show us?” He asked after washing his food down with a soda.

Kiriya shook his head, “It’s gotta be something else. I’ve been here for a few days, and I overheard Kuroto and that guy who was in the Dark Ex-Aid suit last time talking about Graphite like this behavior is completely normal for him.” 

“You saw him?” Emu perked up in his seat, “Here?” 

“Yeah, he’s really friendly with Kuroto, so that’s gotta be suspicious enough for you, right?” 

It was starting to make sense, but Emu still had his doubts, and Kiriya could tell. 

“Hey, ace? I get the feeling you’re _choosing_ not to believe me because of whatever biases towards Kuroto you already have. He’s just a game developer, and we’re probably nothing more than test subjects to him and whatever plans he’s got going on.” And Emu could hear the frustration in his tone pretty clearly. 

Emu felt a hot wave of anger and pure _hurt_ rise up his throat, "So, what about it? He's not just a game developer to me! Besides Kyoutaro-sensei, he’s like my childhood hero, okay? Maybe it’s true and I’m hiding from that but consider my feelings in this!" Kiriya looked like he was going to make some witty comment back, but Emu cut him off, “And how dare you be all accusatory of me when you're sending me mixed signals of being all friendly, and then betraying me, and after going through that twice, now you call me up to help and you're all cuddled up with Graphite! If anyone's suspicious, it's you!" 

That seemed to get Kiriya. He flinched at the accusations of how he'd been toying with Emu's feelings, but a sharp, angry look took over when he said 'cuddled up with Graphite.'

"You think I want to be here?" Kiriya shot back, and a low growl rumbled out of Graphite. The dragon wasn't looking up at Emu yet, but he could feel something anxious and aggressive practically radiating off him, "I was up here trying to look for something to get you to believe me, because for some godforsaken reason I still want to work with you and really give you the truth. But Graphite grabbed me and dragged me in here when I was checking the place out." 

"Oh, right, you just happened to come near the weird pile of furniture in the middle of the office." 

"Wouldn't you check it out if you walked in and saw the place like this?" 

"No, I would probably wait for Kuroto and ask him what this was all about! He's probably remodeling or something." 

"You really think there's nothing suspicious of walking in to see _this?"_ Kiriya angrily gestured to the nest around them as best he could.

"You think there is?" 

“There obviously is!” 

“Maybe you’re just too hung up on whatever grudge you have against him that you’re throwing away logical arguments because you want him to be the guilty one!” 

Kiriya was about to snap back at him but Graphite bit his neck, hard. 

They glared at each other over the bugster’s shoulder, and Graphite remained a stressed out, growling barrier between them. Emu took a pause to really look at him. He looked more anxious than Emu initially thought, and he tilted his head as he watched the bugster bite down on Kiriya's neck again, making him grunt in pain. Did he want them to stop fighting? 

Kiriya seemed to pick up on Graphite’s anxiousness too and they mumbled half-assed apologies to each other if only to stop Kiriya from getting more injured than he already was. They just sat there in silence for a while, letting themselves come down from the adrenaline of the fight. 

“Look if you want proof, I’m sure there’s something around in this office. I’ve been meaning to look around anyway.” Kiriya said, not really looking at him. 

“Fine. I’ll even help you look around if you can prove he’s a part of this.” Emu crossed his arms with a huff. 

While they were distracted with each other, Graphite had curled up around the lump in the sheets again, and barely reacted when Kiriya tapped at his shoulder, so they figured he was done being territorial and would rather warm the eggs. Kiriya hopped over the back of the couch and threw the sheets back over top to keep the heat in. Maybe it was the motion from the jump but he suddenly seemed to notice his state of undress and quickly pulled his shirt closed. 

“Jeez, ace, let me know my tits are out next time, kay?” 

Emu spluttered defensively, his body desperately trying to choke itself out of embarrassment. “Sorry! I just… wasn’t sure how to bring it up,” he ducked his head down. 

Kiriya's brow furrowed at him for a moment, but he let up and just started buttoning his shirt quickly, "Alright, you get a break this time, but just keep ‘hey your shirt's open’ in mind for next time." 

"I sure hope there isn't a next time for something like this." Emu gripped onto the side of the couch for balance and emotional support. 

The medical examiner gave him a sly look, "You sure about that?" 

Emu ended up choking on a mix of his own spit and a laugh at that, feeling his entire face and neck burn with embarrassment. At least Kiriya was still interested in him. Or knew about his interest. He didn't really know if this was a good or bad thing now and decided to keep trying to shrink in on himself. 

A warm hand underneath his chin tilted his head back up, “We can talk about that more when I’m done with this little research trip.” Kiriya smiled at him warmly and Emu screamed internally begging himself not to say anything stupid. 

Emu nodded, deciding biting his tongue was the best option until they left the nest, "So what do you wanna do firs—" He froze in horror as Kiriya sauntered over to Kuroto's desk and started rifling through the papers left on top, "Kiriya-san!" 

"This is the most obvious place to start. I've been wanting to do this since I got here but someone..." He looked pointedly at the nest, "is very clingy." 

"We shouldn't do that!" 

Kiriya grimaced like he wanted to argue, but just sighed and started walking away. Emu pouted, cheeks puffing out as he watched Kiriya start wandering to one of the bookshelves, reading the spines with his hands on his hips, trying to cover up his disappointment he was with his usual laid back attitude. Internally, Emu warred with himself. On one hand, he still felt cautious of Kiriya, and really didn't want Kuroto to be behind all the pain and suffering his coworkers and patients were going through. But on the other hand, he did agree to help, even if it was out of anger. 

"Um..." He said a bit louder than intended, but Kiriya just casually looked over, a bit of interest in his smile as his gaze landed on Emu, "W... Wh-what I meant was..." Oh god, he was really gonna say this, huh? Emu swallowed down the nervousness tightening his throat, "You'd leave fingerprints if you messed around with the desk... N-not that I'd think Kuroto would call in someone to fingerprint his desk if he noticed it'd been messed with but, you can't be too careful, I guess?" 

Kiriya's brows raised and he let out a sharp little laugh. Emu started to retract back into himself, but Kiriya came over and threw an arm over his shoulders, "I'm really surprised at how the tables turned right there. Can't believe I didn't even think of that and you actually suggested..." He laughed good-naturedly again, seeming genuinely surprised, "Maybe we're rubbing off on each other a little too much, huh?" 

"I don't exactly mind," Emu instinctively kept trying to retreat, but a little smile bloomed on his face at the thought. It was nice to be hanging out with Kiriya outside of a stressful, potentially life-threatening event even if it still had to do with the bugster outbreak. This almost felt like a normal hang out. Almost… okay not really but it was probably as close as he was gonna get. 

"So, got any ideas on what we should do about leaving evidence?" 

Emu perked up and slipped out of Kiriya's hold to run back inside the nest to grab his windbreaker. Sometimes he mixed up his regular jacket and his work coat and left exam gloves inside and… today was not one of those days. He sighed and turned back to the exit where he saw Kiriya peeking in through the curtains. 

"What's up, ace?" 

"I thought I might've had gloves in my pockets," Emu grimaced as he got to his feet and headed back outside the nest. 

Kiriya held up a hand, bumping Emu back mid-step by pushing on his chest slightly. He had a somewhat funny smirk on his face, looking at the bag of sheets that Emu brought over. 

"Well, we know that those sheets probably don't have any DNA evidence on them already." 

“Kiriya-san, you’re really not suggesting…” 

Kiriya just went over to open up the packaging on one, “Try everything, right?” The sheets he pulled out had a floral print on them, similar to his shirts and he laughed, giving Emu a knowing grin, “Good taste.” 

Emu blushed a little, but grinned back, “Made me think of you,” he shrugged. 

Kiriya turned back around to grin at him, “Aw, you’re so sweet,” and together they went to Kuroto’s desk, somewhat clumsily going through the papers with the sheets around their hands. It was nice to have their somewhat easy relationship back, but Emu still felt a little tense around Kiriya for now, and could tell the other man felt similarly. 

There wasn’t much to see on the desk in terms of paperwork, concept art with notes all over them in different colors and handwriting, budget reports, and a page of gashat schematics for the Level 3s. The rest of the objects on Kuroto’s desk were interesting to say the least, probably just for aesthetic reasons, among some vaguely sexual objects that Emu would rather ignore for the moment. 

A hollow banging noise startled Emu out of his investigation, and he leaned over to see Kiriya tugging on each of the desk drawers. 

“Of course he locked it,” he heard Kiriya mumble to himself, then he looked up at Emu, “Did you find anything interesting?” 

“There’s some gashat blueprints, but that’s about it. Nothing relating to the bugsters besides that,” Emu held up a design for a mascot with some notes on it, “Unless you wanna hear about the new JuJu Burger release?” 

Kiriya regarded it for a few seconds as if seriously considering it, then a soft smile broke out on his face, “ ‘s cute,” and Emu laughed, putting the art down where he found it, “Probably not relevant to what we’re looking for, but seems like a fun game.” 

Emu nodded eagerly, “Yeah, it’s been ages since we’ve had a cooking game from Genm, and… Ah, you were probably just humoring me,” he ducked his head sheepishly. 

“Nah, let’s hear it. I’m kind of a casual anyway, so maybe I’ll look into it.” 

After exchanging little grins at each other, they went back to investigating the desk while Emu explained the previous Burger installments. They kept at it, the conversation naturally flowing to Emu’s gaming history, leading him to ask what games Kiriya had already tried so he could give Kiriya some recommendations. Time seemed to fly by until they exhausted everything they could potentially look at. 

As they were doing a half-hearted double back over everything, Kiriya bumped Emu’s hip with his own. 

“Hey,” He said, still not meeting Emu’s eyes, “Sorry about earlier.” Kiriya sighed heavily, putting the book he was skimming back onto the shelf. 

Emu was about to respond with an ‘it’s okay, really,’ but Kiriya turned to look at him fully, “I know we apologized earlier, but I just wanted to do it more earnestly now. You’re kinda the only one I can rely on in this situation and I shouldn’t have risked that by pushing you to see things from my perspective. The others already don’t trust me and I can’t get anyone else outside of the crisis involved. It’s way too risky. Even being close to me increases the chances of people getting hurt. I mean you saw what happened with Nisshi and Riko.” 

Emu felt like he should respond, but he was frozen in place, not really believing this was happening, and Kiriya seemed to have more to say anyway, so he just stayed silent and waited for him to continue. 

“So, I’m sorry. If you truly believe Kuroto’s not behind all this, I’ll give him more of a chance and not rag on him as much when you’re around. This was already a big ask, so I appreciate you coming down to help and I should’ve treated you better instead of suddenly throwing all of my theories on you.” 

“You know, I think that’s the most mature thing anyone’s said to me since I got involved in this whole Kamen Rider thing. So thanks.” Emu smiled tiredly at him. “Also, just now… talking with you just now about normal things, even if we were snooping around Kuroto’s office and this whole situation is nuts, I think that made you seem more trustworthy than anything you’ve tried before.” 

Kiriya held his hand to his chest in mock offense and Emu nudged him, “Take the compliment and move on, Kiriya-san, don’t push your luck.” 

The medical examiner just laughed and they continued their search in more comfortable silence. When they turned up with nothing again, they decided to regroup at the nest, where Graphite eagerly flipped back the sheets and pulled Kiriya back in with him. 

“See, this is literally what happened when I got here a few days ago.” 

Emu didn’t bother holding back his laughter, and Kiriya just gave him a dissatisfied look. 

“Maybe we can try and take a picture to show CR that he’s here.” He said between giggles in hopes of appeasing Kiriya. “Having a photo could at least convince the others there’s more to Genm than we initially thought.” 

Kiriya finally relented and sighed, “Yeah that’s actually a pretty good idea.” 

* * *

"I don't think we have anything comprehensive to show Poppy and the others," Emu said as he looked through the many photos he had on his camera roll from the last hour. 

"Yeah, it's either too hard to see that this is actually in Kuroto's office, or it looks incriminating because I have a bugster crawling all over me." Kiriya scowled from over his shoulder. Graphite was practically glued to his back, chin pressed onto his shoulder and getting as much contact as he could, weighing both of them down. The medical examiner sighed, "Well, I guess we should talk favor since I've kept you here long enough." 

Emu waved his hands dismissively, "Kiriya-san, it's alright. You already paid me back, and this is potentially important to the bugster outbreaks." 

Kiriya shook his head, "Well, at least let me take you to dinner once I'm out of here. You pick, and I'll cover it." 

Emu thought it over for a while, "How about we split it?" 

That seemed to catch Kiriya off guard for a moment, but a grin was quickly in place of the surprised look, "Can't argue with that. Also, delete all those photos, please" 

"Well, since that’s settled, I should probably leave," Emu said, quickly gathering all his things with every intention to keep the photos and run before Kiriya could ask again. If Nishiwaki got one embarrassing photo of Kiriya, it was only fair he got to keep a few. "Unlike some people, I have work in the morning," He teased. 

Kiriya laughed and Graphite started pawing at his shoulder insistently, curling around the eggs and seemingly ready for sleep. "Yeah, I've got some other obligations, too," the medical examiner jerked his head back towards Graphite. 

"Well, hopefully, see you soon," Emu nodded, gathering up all the trash into the take out bags to throw away in the downstairs elevator lobby. 

"Yup," Kiriya said as he started pulling the new sheets back over the couch cube, "Take care of yourself out there, ace." 

And with that, the couch was covered up again. Emu could hear some shuffling around, like bodies getting comfortable, and contented reptilian trills. This crisis was turning out to be something bizarre, and he always seemed to find Kiriya smack dab in the middle of the weirdest parts of it. The ride down in the elevator was quiet and soothing, almost meditative in a way compared to the chaos of his day. He was still worried about what might come for all of them, especially Kiriya if he was insistent on shoving his way into places he really shouldn't be, but he was glad that this trip to Genm proved he was trusted. 

Sure, they still didn't see eye to eye about Kuroto and his involvement, but Kiriya had opened Emu's eyes to whole new aspects of this virus he never thought possible. With all of the minor feuds between the Kamen Riders involved and all the unknowns about their enemies and the disease they were battling, it was nice to have some kind of solidarity to ground him. To have someone relying on him, especially the one who was the most closed off and secretive of all. Emu felt energized, ready to face the rest of his internship, and each new bugster case with the confidence that someone had his back in some small ways, and Kiriya would let his barriers down just a bit for Emu to cover and care for those exposed parts, too. 

Plus, he was looking forward to that dinner. He was going to pick somewhere nicer than McDonald's, for sure. 


	11. Chapter 11

After a nice break in pace from Emu's visit yesterday, Kiriya woke up in the worst way possible. There was a loud clacking and scraping noise right in his ear, like teeth on bone, and when he opened his eyes, Dan fucking Kuroto was hovering over him with an amused smile playing across his lips.

Kiriya stared up at him, frozen with indecision between punching him now and escaping, maybe seeing where Graphite's feelings on them both really were, or just keep doing what he'd been doing for the last few days: watch and wait, hope he wasn't going to die today. Kuroto held his gaze until he deemed Kiriya suitably uneasy, grin widening ever so slightly then leaned down. The doctor's eyes followed him as he almost disappeared behind the back of the couch. When he came back into full view, it was to throw in a rack of extremely poorly cooked ribs over to Graphite. His moms would probably cry if they ever caught sight of that travesty. But Graphite was clearly happy with the way he caught it between his draconic jaws. Kiriya let his eyes flicker to the side and saw some bloodstains on the sheets and bones picked completely clean near his head, but he didn't let it linger for too long since Kuroto was still in the room and Kiriya needed to know what that fucker was up to.

Contrary to his expectations, Kuroto just leaned back down and picked up a plastic bin with a thin layer of meat drippings and blood sloshing around at the bottom, making direct eye contact with Kiriya when he took one of the new sheets in his clean hand. He ran his thumb over it for a bit and chuckled, "Cute." He said simply, and Kiriya grimaced.

It was Bakusou Bike patterned, a joke from Emu that he thought was entertaining enough to cover his half of the nest with it, but now he just felt uncomfortable. He flinched a little as Kuroto whipped the sheet over, throwing him and Graphite into darkness again.

As Kuroto exited, he swore he could hear a murmured, "Good luck.”

Kiriya felt a cold sweat break out on the back of his neck. He already wanted his stay here to be short, but that was on his own terms. The grin Kuroto gave him suddenly made him feel like he was on borrowed time.

He needed to get out of here soon, capture photo evidence of Kuroto with the Dark Ex-Aid impersonator if he could, but that was now secondary to convincing Graphite to let him go.

Maybe Kuroto feeding Graphite was distracting enough, and Kiriya tried leaving the nest one more time. A claw grabbing him by the back of his shirt proved him wrong. After a bit of struggle, he reluctantly shuffled back to his spot in the nest, trying not to watch Graphite eagerly tear into that crime against humanity. Eventually, the dragon nudged him with his beak, and Kiriya reluctantly looked over. Graphite had eaten past all the charred and completely raw bits to some decently cooked meat, but Kiriya still scowled at it. Kuroto certainly cooked like a rich kid that never had to take care of himself a day in his life if this depressing thing really was his handiwork. Graphite shoved the meat closer to him insistently and he sighed resignedly before taking a small bite. He was a little hungry anyway.

The meat he got was surprisingly good, but that really wasn't saying much given his expectations. His surprised expression must've given Graphite the idea he liked it, though, because the bugster kept eating around the terrible pieces so he could offer Kiriya the better bits. At least he seemed to enjoy what he was eating. Kiriya tried not to judge to hard, reminding himself that Graphite had to have at least some functioning taste buds; given that he finished all of the nuggets while he and Emu were snooping around last night. When they were finally done with the food, Graphite contentedly laid back over the eggs and relaxed.

With the dragon sated and back into egg warmer mode, Kiriya went back into his usual routine of trying to escape and getting thwarted, with visits to those nicer bathrooms downstairs peppered in to relieve himself or do a quick wipe down of his sweat. All the time spent with Graphite was pretty useful. Kiriya could read the bugster for signs when anyone else in the room. There were a few close calls with employees suddenly bursting through the doors to remind Kuroto about meetings or delivering things to him, but by the end of the day, Kiriya was still successfully non-existent to the rest of Genm.

While Kiriya could technically go out whenever now that his cover was blown (not like passing through would reveal himself any more), he didn’t want to chance something terrible happening. And honestly, Kuroto was probably daring him to make a move so Kiriya could fall into his nice little death trap to silence him forever. As much as it pissed him off, he'd rather keep his contact with the CEO and his stupid smug fucking grin to a minimum and not play into his hands.

Plus, there were some new good things to focus on. Graphite had become lax enough for him to wander inside the den and stretch out his numb and aching limbs. Sometimes the dragon would even poke his head out to watch with feigned disinterest. Whenever their gazes met, Kiriya would shift his stance to look like a pinup model or do some ridiculous stretch to show off his flexibility, making Graphite snort and slip back into the relative dark of the nest to hide his amused smirk. But Kiriya's breaks would always end in Graphite's arms and back to egg warmer duty, whether he tried to escape or not.

By the end of the workday, Kuroto didn't seem to be heading out anytime soon. So, Kiriya pulled out his phone, hoping to catch some photos of him and the Dark Ex-Aid impostor if he showed up. And why wouldn't he? He knew Kuroto didn't stay nights like he told Taiga a couple days ago, he’d seen the man’s whole schedule for like, four days in a row now. A rendezvous would be the only logical reason for him to stay back.

And he turned out to be right. But his plans were quickly ruined. And Graphite wasn't the one to do it this time since they finally seemed to have reached a new level of comfort with each other. No, this time, his plans were messed up by Kuroto. The impostor showed up just like he expected, but after some words said too quietly for him to make out, there was some wet sound, like… Oh fuck, he really hoped that wasn't them making out.

Kiriya was unfortunately proven right very quickly, and he was frozen to his spot in shock. Eventually, his brain worked itself out of panic mode to gain enough sense that he should try get a photo of them together, but based on the sounds, he was already too late.

He'd never wanted to know what Kuroto getting railed against a window sounded like, but that was the horror he was currently being subjected to. Kuroto had to have been gloating at him right now, rubbing it in Kiriya’s face that he knew Graphite had “special company” since he’d never done anything like this before. Kiriya would grind his teeth if he wasn’t so shaken. This could be an opportunity, but there was no way in hell he'd risk venturing out now, and no way he could send it to Emu and the others either, as compelling as it would be for evidence that Kuroto had a partner in crime.

When he looked over, he saw his current emotions reflected in Graphite's face. He was the epitome of done, eyes half-lidded in annoyance, and his teeth gritted together in a disgusted frown that favored one side of his face. Graphite moved the eggs, bundled in a sheet, from the spot between their bellies to be pressed against their chests instead. He piled some pillows around the clutch and wrapped one of the new sheets, aloha print, just like Kiriya's shirt, around the whole affair, placing a gentle hand on top, as if trying to muffle the sounds from the outside. Kiriya couldn't help but stifle a little chuckle from the ridiculousness of the situation, wishing it would be that easy for them to drown out the noises from outside.

It did give him an idea, though. And for his, and potentially Graphite's own protection, he pulled out his phone, placing it on the eggs while he felt around for his jacket with one hand. The dragon glared at the addition to the mini nest like it was an intruder trying to steal the eggs, so Kiriya worked quickly, fishing his tangled earbuds from an inner pocket in his jacket. There were still a few loose knots in it by the time he deemed it good enough. He could've spent more time getting them out, but he felt like he was going to lose his mind if he had to listen to any more and shoved the jack into his phone. Getting something to hopefully drown out Kuroto and removing his phone from the eggs ASAP was what mattered here.

Kiriya turned on one of his playlists at random, sticking the earbuds in to hear the beginning of an ukulele cover of some popular song he downloaded years ago. Not really loud enough to mask the noises from outside, but at least it was something else to focus on. He picked up the other wire, offering the earbud to Graphite, and when the bugster didn't snap at him or anything, just stared at it curiously, he took that as permission enough and gently stuck it in his ear.

As Graphite sighed in relief and started settling in for the night, Kiriya tentatively put his hand over the eggs, too, in the spirit of protecting them from the noise outside.

Graphite's hand twitched as Kiriya's came next to it, so he started shifting away. But Graphite slowly reached out, as if Kiriya was a tiny animal he didn't want to spook, wrapping his fingers around his wrist and guiding him back to the top of the eggs. He tentatively laced their fingers together. Kiriya held his breath and looked up to Graphite's face.

The bugster wasn't paying him much attention, much more focused on watching their hands and the eggs nestled beneath them. But, as if he could feel Kiriya's gaze on him, he looked up and met his eyes briefly. Kiriya wasn't sure what flickered in them, but it looked sort of like affection, and he felt his chest constrict in response to it. He flexed his fingers a little, trying to give Graphite a somewhat reassuring gesture, and the bugster seemed to appreciate it. He watched Graphite for a while longer, until he slowly drifted off.

* * *

When Kiriya woke up the next morning, Graphite wasn't next to him anymore. The sheets were pulled back halfway, letting in some sunlight from the floor to ceiling windows at the back of the office. His eyes were immediately drawn to a figure, silhouetted by the sunlight. He groggily crawled to the edge of the couch to poke his head out of the nest.

As he blinked away the sleep from his eyes, the figure seemed to notice him and turned around. A chill shot down Kiriya's spine as Graphite's human form came into focus and the bugster's eyes locked onto his, bright and terrifyingly lucid.

"You're up early, Lazer."


	12. Chapter 12

Kiriya forced a smile now that he was being faced with the full force of Graphite’s piercing glare.

“Um, g’morning.” He said, trying to stay casual, “So you’re obviously… um…”

All his laidback attitude and easy conversation were suddenly lost. He knew Graphite would eventually return to his regular self, but he expected it to be slow from the little hints of coherency he’d gotten during his stay. With all the planning he'd been doing on the down low, his ideal scenario was being gone long before this happened. Unfortunately, after scrapping those plans, he was floundering a bit more than usual in this sudden turn of events. And Graphite wasn’t helping matters, short-circuiting Kiriya’s brain as he approached, gripping the arm of the couch and leaning in so their faces were close. Fuck, they were so close he was gonna bite Kiriya’s face off he knew it—

“Move over.”

Kiriya opened his eyes, not realizing when he’d shut them, and blinked up at Graphite in shock at the quiet demand. The bugster’s face was impassive, and he simply raised an eyebrow, “Move over,” he repeated, more gently this time and Kiriya silently followed along, more confused than he’d ever been since he got here, if that were even possible.

Graphite climbed over the couch arm with ease and leaned up against the back. Even though he was sitting so casually, Kiriya still felt… intimidated? That felt like the word he should be using here for his suddenly dry throat, sweaty palms, and racing heart, but for some reason that didn’t completely describe the feeling— and Graphite was talking now so he didn’t have the time or space to figure out why.

“I know you have a lot of questions,”

“‘A lot of questions’ doesn’t even start to cover it,” Kiriya said a little too quickly, and he bit the inside of his cheek when he realized he’d cut the bugster off.

But to his surprise, Graphite just snorted, smirking as he gestured slightly, encouraging Kiriya to continue.

“What was that? Or what’s...” Kiriya asked, waving a hand to indicate the whole nest, and Graphite’s mouth fell open slightly for a moment before the half smile returned.

“I was expecting some stupid banter or something, but I appreciate you getting straight to the point.” He paused, biting his lip as he seemed to collect his thoughts, “I think Ex-Aid said something about it just being in my code when he was here?”

“Eh, pretty much.”

“That’s it. It’s just a manifestation of the game mechanics relating to eggs.” Graphite shrugged. “Kuroto was surprised at first, but once he realized what was happening, I guess he decided he couldn't do anything else besides deal with it. Doesn’t stop him from complaining, and it’s not like he does much to help anyway.”

Kiriya nodded, filing the confirmation away for later, mind wandering to the next topic he wanted to ask about. And while he had questions that were more important to his research, one thought in particular kept slamming to the front of his mind, shoving all others aside.

"So..." Kiriya started slowly, knowing it was a weird topic, "What was with the scent thing? Or whatever reason you felt the need to, ah… co-parent with me?"

Graphite's forced casualness vanished as his mouth fell open. Kiriya cursed internally, but the bugster slowly shifted in place and Kiriya’s oncoming panic was eased away by Graphite stuttering as he attempted to answer.

"It's um..." He sighed sharply, "I recognized you as a potential mate. It's only happened once before where someone's scent..." one of his hands dropped its grip on his upper arm and reached out slightly, hovering there and then clenching as if he grabbed the word he settled on, "When they've 'clicked' with me, so to speak."

Kiriya's head tilted in interest, "So, do I smell like them?"

Graphite shook his head, "Nothing alike, honestly. But you still remi— Your scent is nice." He corrected himself, hand darting back to its original place so he could cross his arms again.

A grin spread across Kiriya's face, "So, is that why you wouldn’t let me leave?"

Graphite rolled his eyes, "Yeah, right..."

Kiriya leaned in, "Hm? Well then, don't stop explaining now, it’s getting interesting."

But Graphite didn't sigh dramatically, or roll his eyes again, or any of the sarcastic reactions Kiriya was expecting. Instead, he dropped his eyes, something upset and pained tugged at the edges of his expression, threatening to overtake his face.

"I... I don't remember exactly what happened, but he died. I actually let you out more because Genm said I accidentally infected him while I had him with me… That it came from all the close contact and stress and it killed him like all the other Zero Day hosts. Didn't even form a bugster, just nothing of him left. But sometimes I feel like that’s not exactly what happened since it’s always hazy when I’m like this."

"I mean, trust Dan as far as you can throw him, right?" Kiriya added.

Graphite snorted haughtily, "I could throw him further than you'd expect."

Kiriya smiled, "Ah, what I'd give to see that," but as he settled back into the couch behind him, resting his elbows on the edge, the weight of Graphite's words fully sank in.

He inhaled deeply, rolling his neck as he played with the idea of...

Kiriya's eyes landed on Graphite again, the distant look on the bugster's face stirring up old feelings from five years ago, reminding him of what _that_ felt like. He exhaled, breath coming out in a soft, slow whoosh.

"I kinda know the feeling." He nodded, "Before all this game virus stuff went down, I had someone, too." Kiriya hated how his voice trembled, how hard he had to fight to keep himself together. He hadn't talked to anyone about this ever since that night in the morgue and he wasn't ready to look at Graphite so soon after admitting it, but hoping he understood and didn't need to pry.

Graphite's gaze bore into him, and Kiriya's jaw clenched uncomfortably.

The intensity eventually died down, and Kiriya felt brave enough to glance up and meet his eyes. Graphite watched him with his usual, stoic resting face, but he thought there was a hint of caution, and maybe softness. Something about the look didn't seem as uptight as Kiriya was used to in the glimpses of Graphite’s human form he’d seen before all this.

"Thank you," he said, and Kiriya half-smiled back, feeling assured that Graphite understood what he meant.

Maybe Kuroto told him or had files about each of the Riders for the bugsters to read. The man hadn't known who he was initially, but Kiriya wouldn't put it past him to investigate after getting blackmailed. Whether he cared enough to actually retain or file away that information was questionable, but in the end, Kiriya found he liked this reassuring squeezing in his chest the most when he assumed there was a mutual understanding with the dragon.

"Can I ask what he was like?" Kiriya ventured, but Graphite shook his head, gritting his teeth.

"Yeah, I get that," he said quietly. He didn't know how recent this was for Graphite. It could still be something raw and new. Better to just move on.

"Hey, maybe we can do a bit of an exchange here, make it more even." Graphite raised an eyebrow, and Kiriya continued, "You answer whatever questions I have, and for each one, I'll fill you in on what you did this week."

Graphite scowled, "Why do you think I'd be interested to hear about that?"

Kiriya laughed, "Because you got up to some _weird_ stuff. C'mon, you've gotta be at least a little curious, yeah? Not like you've had anyone to give you a play by play before."

The bugster threw his back against the couch irritably, lips pressing into a thin line, but he couldn't hold the expression for long and it turned into a pout as he glared. Kiriya couldn't hold back his amused grin as he watched Graphite struggle with the proposition.

"Okay fine, tell me what the fuck happened when you fell off the roof."

Kiriya resisted pumping a fist in the air, settling for throwing his head back and cackling.

* * *

As they talked, things played out just like Kiriya thought they would, for once. The novelty of a lucid Graphite quickly wore off and he got more interested in poking and prodding the dragon when he saw how fun and varied his reactions could be. Kiriya knew he was absolutely toeing the line between teasing and outright humiliating him, but he made sure to not cross it. Graphite probably already suffered enough of that at the hands of Kuroto and Dark Ex-Aid. He didn't need any more, but joking and lightening up a little couldn't hurt.

And maybe to jab back at his fun, Graphite was being incredibly vague about his questions. Maybe he deserved it, but his desire for more detailed answers wasn't stronger than the fun he was having now that he could have an actual conversation with the dragon. Though he did get shut down hard and fast when he tried to ask about Graphite's feelings towards eggs and nesting, leaving Kiriya a little sour and disappointed. It would be genuinely interesting to hear since they weren't feelings humans experienced at such an intense level and he _did_ promise answers.

At least Graphite was being straightforward about his questions regarding Kuroto and the virus. Even if his answers started and ended at: "He doesn't tell me anything."

Graphite said it so seriously, so deadpan, that Kiriya had no choice but to believe him. And even if it wasn't said with such finality, he wouldn't put it past Kuroto to be so petty. He saw the CEO as the type to cut someone off of vital information if there were even the slightest signs of rebellion. And with the way Kiriya could imagine their personalities interacting, it was less, rubbing each other the wrong way and more clashing and constant cold shoulders, so Graphite was bound to be out of the loop on a whole bunch of important things.

"Seriously, and you still work with him?" Kiriya nudged his foot against Graphite's to keep his attention as the dragons eyes wandered to the curtains behind his head.

"Who else would I go to? Every other human wants to eliminate me and my kind from the world, so what does that leave me?"

Point. And a very solid one. Kiriya honestly couldn't think of anywhere else.

The brief thought of Graphite coming with him crossed his mind. Kiriya had a spare futon, and when Graphite needed to nest, they could trade off and he could use the actual bed. And having a bugster at home would make it so much easier to experiment with the virus... And then the reality that came with those thoughts quickly squashed that fantasy. Even if he took Graphite in, their goals were too different. He wanted to cure and eliminate the rest of the virus at any cost. And Graphite obviously wouldn't accept the favoritism. For him, it was all bugsters or nothing.

"Between a game developer with a control complex and a hospital," Kiriya answered absentmindedly.

Graphite scoffed, "Yeah. That's one way of putting it."

Despite all that, Graphite managed to get him some good information about the virus when they started comparing and contrasting what Graphite thought was normal for humans with Kiriya's experiences of actually being one, and then putting Kiriya's hypotheses up against Graphite's inherent knowledge of what the virus could do.

It was finally a conversation with some nice momentum with topics Kiriya could dive deep into. Brief thoughts of, 'if things were different,' maybe Graphite could be a great doctor himself flashed through his head. If Poppy could be a nurse, why not any of the other bugsters? And truth be told, Kiriya was a bit put off learning about all of Kuroto's schemes and the inner workings of his operation through Graphite's perspective, so this was a nice change of pace. He thought since they were talking about something they both could really get into, he'd be past the feeling, but there was something else nagging him about their conversation. Something about Graphite's behavior that wasn't sitting with him entirely right.

The way he was holding himself, at first Kiriya thought it was something like self-comfort or casually crossing his arms, but as he watched closer, it seemed more like restraint with Graphite’s fingers digging into his arms and the tense line of his shoulders. The rest of his posture, the way he was slumped seemed relaxed and kind of lounging at first, but now it just looked like apathy, or some deep-set tiredness. Even the way Graphite was meeting his eyes seemed off… Kiriya thought it was just to intimidate, even passing it off as ‘maybe Graphite glared at people like that on the regular.’ But with all these other details falling into place, Kiriya could see Graphite’s focus on him was deliberate. It wasn't to be polite or convey his interesting in the conversation either because Graphite's gaze would drift off, but only to one side of the room. If Kiriya didn’t know better he’d say Graphite was trying to ignore the eggs—

Wait.

 _Was_ he trying to ignore the eggs?

Kiriya’s gaze flicked down to the bundle of sheets and pillows surrounding the clutch, wracking his brain for the reason Graphite might’ve had this sudden shift in behavior. Damn, he hadn't even noticed how long they'd just been chatting with the sheets flipped back. By now Graphite should be throwing as many layers of cover as he could find over them and pulling them both tight around the eggs, probably tearing down the mini nest to get them more direct heat, and the fact that he wasn't. Well...

A little twitch in his peripheral caught his attention and his gaze snapped back to the bugster.

Graphite had been watching him carefully and probably noticed where Kiriya’s eyes went for that brief moment. And Kiriya didn’t miss the way his posture shifted slightly. Uncomfortably.

Maybe he should… “Um, hey I was kinda wondering about the eg—”

_“Don’t.”_

The sharp tone Graphite used made Kiriya’s throat constrict, sending a prickling sensation rolling down his back.

Kiriya’s brow furrowed, but he wasn’t about to ask again. Not after a reaction like that. Even if things had been going so well earlier. There was a little flash of teeth, Graphite unconsciously snarling at him. But the bugster caught himself and his face fell back into something calm, but Kiriya could see something a little sad about it.

He sighed through his nose, eyes closed as he reeled himself in, probably looking for what words he wanted to use. Graphite’s jaw shifted as he raised his head and leveled Kiriya with a neutral look, “It’s complicated.”

Kiriya bit his tongue, that would have to be good enough for now, “Okay.”

There was a long, tense pause as they stared each other down, Graphite’s glare burning into him. Anything else that Kiriya wanted to ask had just slipped out of his mind and he couldn’t think of anything else worth saying in this situation.

“Um… Well, I guess that’s all I had.”

Graphite relented, nodding and curling in on himself for a bit, blankly staring at their shoes, but not really seeing anything. Kiriya recognized that kind of look and figured Graphite’s mind was somewhere else completely, figuring out problems that were extremely important in his own head. Familiar. Because it was something he’d often catch Jungo—

Kiriya jumped out of the couch cube to… He wasn’t sure what he wanted to do but he couldn’t be here a second longer and started walking. He felt Graphite’s gaze flick back up to him, but he ignored it for now. Graphite was lucid now, so if there were any attempts to pull him back in, he’d fight it with everything he had.

But the dragon didn’t reach out, and Kiriya froze for a moment, caught between wanting to get some space for himself and an instinctive feeling of wrongness from this break in their pattern. The need to be alone won out quickly, and checking his phone showed that he was early enough to walk up to the roof without needing to sneak around employees since they'd all probably be at their desks around now. So he headed out the door at a brisk pace slowing to a stroll once he was in the hallways. Normally, the slow pace would be calming, but today he was too preoccupied with trying to force himself to organize all the thoughts whirling around in his skull. And when that didn't work out, he just tried to stop thinking altogether.

When he was finally out in the open air, Kiriya curled up between the ledge of the roof and the little housing for the access door. With his back leaning against the wall, he hugged his knees to his chest and rested his forehead against one. He came out here intending to try and make sense of everything, but it was so much more tempting to just stop thinking for a while. So he squeezed his eyes shut and let his mind throw away everything else, narrowing his focus to breathing, trying to make sure it stayed even and steady.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, just a preface to this chapter, I'm extremely sorry.  
> This fic wasn't meant to drag out this long and give you all so much time to get attached to the eggs. This was always the end game plan, I just didn't expect it to take this long I’m so sorry.
> 
> Also, this chapter does get a little body-horror-ish because I wrote about pregnancy through the lens of someone who's anxious and upset by it so if that might make you uncomfortable in any way feel free to skip this chapter!

Kiriya realized he couldn't stay on the roof the whole day like he wanted to when a group of employees came up for a smoke break. Noting how he still had some cover in the shadows meant this was sometime before their lunch break and he’d already taken longer up here than he expected. He pressed himself to the roof access and squeezed into the tight space behind it and the ledge of the roof where he waited, blankly staring out at the surrounding buildings and the skyline, hearing but not listening to the muffled conversation. Even when his legs fell asleep, he stayed there until he heard the door swing shut.

After rubbing the stinging, crawling sensation out of his muscles to wake them up again, he peeked around the corner, seeing no one and finally stood up properly so he could head back down, as well. The longer he stayed up here, the more likely he was to be caught, and if he didn't have Graphite as an excuse to be around, who knew what Kuroto would do with him.

He managed to get back down without much issue. And as Kiriya re-entered the nest, Graphite acknowledged him with a nod. Kiriya could feel the look directed at him as he settled in on his usual side of the nest, stretching his back against an arm of the couch. When Graphite’s careful watch didn’t stray from him, he pulled out his phone to pretend he wasn't keeping tabs on everything the dragon was up to. They stayed like that until Graphite must've deemed him safe, and went back to whatever he'd been doing before, which seemed to be just sitting there, lost in thought. His brows were drawn together in deep focus as he worried his bottom lip with his fangs. Kiriya watched Graphite from the corner of his eye for a few more moments, then actually started using his phone, deciding to check out his email first, since there were a few new messages.

Most of it was just stuff from work, asking if he was alright and when he'd be back in to continue consulting with investigators for his latest case. A “you better not be dead” from Nisshi’s personal account was mixed in with the work messages that made him chuckle. And there was one from his mom asking why he hadn't called lately that set off a small ache in his chest. He was looking forward to getting out of here so he could lounge on the floor at home, spending hours chatting with his family over the phone, catching up with them.

He drafted some responses for each email, then opened up a new one to start meticulously documenting everything he was able to find out during his stay. He wanted everything in an accessible place in case he wasn't able to get it all to CR on his own.

When he was finally done writing notes and sending off his responses, he stretched, then peeked through the sliver of the floor to ceiling windows visible through the nest's cloth walls, surprised that it was already getting dark. Even though he always got absorbed in his work and went for way too long without breaks, it surprised him every time he broke out of those self-induced fugue states to realize what time it was. Since it was already after hours, he should try to get one more shower in on the lower floors, hit the vending machines for some food, then he could probably leave for the night, with Graphite mostly better and Kuroto and his accomplice finally gone, leaving the two of them to their own devices. His gaze wandered down to see Graphite had shifted from his earlier position, legs tangled in sheets and blankets because he'd scooted up towards the mini nest currently surrounding the eggs, hands hovering over it and a distant look in his eyes, like he was fighting the urge to check in on them.

Kiriya put his phone back up to seem like he wasn’t watching. Graphite's sudden aversion to the eggs was perplexing, and observing him was now the only option to figure out why since the bugster clearly didn't want to talk about it. Slowly, Graphite's hands came down to rest on the top layer of sheets covering them, fingers twisting in the fabric, possibly getting ready to yank it off or rip it apart, Kiriya wasn't sure which. Would be a shame, since that was one of the cuter sheets Emu had bought, but if it was one of the many sacrifices that needed to be made to appease whatever was going on in Graphite's head and give Kiriya some indication of whatever storm was brewing in there, then they'd both be okay with it.

But before anything drastic happened, Graphite's white-knuckled grip loosened and he raised his head slightly, letting Kiriya get a good look at his expression. His eyebrows were twisted up in that frustrated way that seemed to be permanently engraved in his face ever since he snapped at Kiriya that morning, and his eyes were shut. Not screwed closed or anything, just gently shut, but in a way that made the rest of his face, jaw clenched and fangs gritted, look more pensive than the usual aggression or frustration, struggling to not give in to something or feel resigned. Every intake of breath was visible with the way his shoulders were following his rhythm, and Kiriya could see a slight tremor throughout his whole body.

Like he knew he was being observed, Graphite's eyes slowly opened, and he completely dropped the sheets. His head raised, looking at Kiriya with tired, dead eyes. The usual reflectiveness in them was dull and Kiriya didn't think it was possible, but there seemed to be dark shadows under them, faint but still noticeable, little smudges of purplish grey. Scarily humanoid... No, _just like_ a human.

Kiriya's heart thudded against his sternum once, then stopped dead as Graphite's stare stayed locked onto him.

The bugster blinked at him slowly. Once. Twice. Seemingly getting his bearings as he took in Kiriya like they were thrown back to the beginning of this nesting fiasco all over again. But instead of grabbing Kiriya and pulling him close or anything else the medical examiner had come to expect, Graphite just closed his eyes again, exhaling slowly and shakily through his nose and retreating to his corner of the nest to curl up.

The dragon's eyes flickered to him every once in a while, but he seemed determined to get lost in thought again with the way he was trying to glare a hole into the opposite arm of the couch. 

He stepped out of the nest, with a soft, "I'm going to get cleaned up, want me to get you anything from the vending machines—" He nearly bit through his tongue when he realized what he'd said. Kiriya only meant to say the first sentence, following it up about how he had to leave, just to give Graphite some reassurance before he was gone for good. But that traitorous, soft part inside of him that had gotten attached in ways that pulled at his heart in new, unfamiliar, and honestly strange, directions tacked on that last bit.

Graphite tilted his head in Kiriya's direction, looking at him out of the corner of his eyes. There was a long pause, and Kiriya held his breath, hoping Graphite wouldn't ask for anything, but the dragon blinked a few times, then looked at him fully.

"Just something to drink. Doesn't matter what it is."

When he saw Kiriya's acknowledging nod, he returned the gesture, then went back to staring at the other side of the couch, blankly this time. Kiriya watched him as he backed out of the nest for a bit more, wondering if the change in expression was a good sign. Settling for the assumption it was, he turned around and briskly walked out of the office.

* * *

Kiriya thanked whatever reasons Genm decided a locker room with showers was needed. He wondered how many employees stayed nights to justify this, but given what he heard about game development crunch, maybe they all stayed over at some point or another. But those thoughts left as soon as they came once he had the hot water on. All the anxiousness from before felt like it washed out, too, and he finally felt like he could breathe as he cleared his head, focusing on nothing but the hot water running over his skin and cleaning off sweat and foam bits. He took a little longer than he probably should've, but he stepped out of the stall with a solid idea of what he could do.

No kind of plan, though.

But that might be okay. Because every time he tried to plan in this situation, everything fell through. So he was going in with nothing but a better grasp of how things worked between him and Graphite, which felt like enough to help him navigate his way around the bugster and out of here once and for all.

It didn't sound like much, but everything else he tried landed him in the same situation over and over again, so he might as well give winging it a shot.

When he finally ambled his way out of the locker room, he was able to find a vending machine quickly enough, and bought a CC Lemon and an ice tea, figuring he could just take whichever one Graphite didn't want. And to his surprise, Graphite took the CC Lemon when he returned, cracking it open and taking a swig. The bugster also seemed to have a bit of that nesting haziness in his eyes again, and Kiriya got worried.

"Is that really going to do anything for you?" He asked, trying to keep it casual while he planned his next moves.

Graphite shrugged one shoulder, "I don't technically need it, but it feels good. I instinctively want to consume things because of my programming, I guess."

The bugster looked bitter about what he was saying, and Kiriya nodded sympathetically. He'd probably feel the same if Dan Kuroto was the one who created him. But thoughts of Kuroto made his mind drift back to his plan and need to get out of here. This was an opportune time, since the CEO thankfully left on time, and his partner was nowhere in sight.

He wanted to just explain that he needed to head out, figuring Graphite would be fine on his own, but the look in Graphite's eyes gave him the impression he'd be staying another night. It made Kiriya wonder how long nesting usually went on for him. Initially, he figured it couldn't be longer than anyone else's 'time of the month' but this was also so different from anything he was used to when it came to that.

Graphite bit his lip, not quite able to look at him directly just yet, but he was able to mumble, "I think there's something you deserve to know."

Kiriya tilted his head, a little reluctant to get back into his spot in the couches, but he was definitely curious about whatever Graphite had to say. And from the look of things, it was going to be a conversation he'd want to sit down for.

Graphite didn't wait for him to get comfortable, just huffed softly, like he was hyping himself up for something. Before Kiriya could even try to guess at what, Graphite pulled the blankets off the mini "soundproofing" nest. It was quick and sharp, like pulling off a bandage, and Kiriya quickly understood why.

A large cluster of pixels billowed out, a shimmering cloud of greens, greys, and browns of all shades that slowly floated up, fading to the usual orangey-amber color of bugster pixels before they winked out of existence.

Kiriya didn't even realize he'd jumped away until he started taking steps back towards the couches. He swallowed thickly, palms suddenly clammy and cold as he leaned over the edge of the couch to peer into the mini nest. Kiriya didn't even know why he felt so shaken by this.

They were just eggs.

They weren't even his.

They weren't even real. They were just digital.

But somehow he still felt for them, and despite part of him trying to convince himself he didn't know why, deep down, he knew he'd gotten somewhat attached to the little things. Gotten attached to Graphite, too, even though he shouldn't have. With things the way they were now, there was no way anything between them could end in anything but tragedy. And as he finally looked into the nest, and saw the broken down eggs, it felt like a sick representation of those futures.

It wasn't grotesque by any means. But the best word he could think to describe what they were doing was decaying. Not in a rotting sense, but a chemical one. Instead of the fully formed, shiny, scaly eggs he'd seen when he first arrived, they were all different stages of cracked open and spewing off pixels, each one floating away like an atom falling off its molecule. They looked like they were perfectly cracked in the centers, forming jagged cups to hold the albumen and yolks inside. As he looked closer, he could see the liquids disappearing quicker, the pixels rising up like plumes of steam, while the shells were slower. Those pixels broke off one or three at a time, vibrating before they finally came loose, like they had to wiggle and fight to split away.

The most broken-down ones caught his attention, a dark green one with a faint gold glitter across its surface, edges jagged where it was cracked more than halfway down, and a light grey one, whose shell was breaking down in an interesting spiral pattern, and much faster than the others. The albumen and yolk that spilled out of the grey one burst into pixels the moment it left the safety of the shell.

And miraculously, out of all the eggs to be in the best shape, it was that pale green one he accidentally hit when he first arrived. The egg looked roughly the same as when he last checked on it; the crack was perceptibly wider, but it was nowhere near as bad as the other eggs. Kiriya leaned in even closer to look at it, a hand instinctively reaching out to touch it. Feeling along the side of it, it still felt smooth, with those sharp edges poking into the pads of his fingers. He looked up at Graphite curiously, trying to see if he had any explanation for it, but the bugster remained quiet, simply staring down into the eggs, the faint glow from the pixels dancing across his features like fireflies.

Kiriya slowly climbed over the couch back he was leaning on, making sure his movements were gentle to keep the eggs from getting knocked over or disturbed too badly. He wasn't sure what Graphite would do to him if he had them spilling everywhere, and when one started tipping over from the new weight on the cushions, his hand darted out to catch it.

As it dissolved in his hand, the shell pixels that touched him sparked and made him twitch a little bit.

Maybe Graphite wouldn't be that upset about one egg... It was already fading and he was a little curious about the albumen and yolk. Kiriya tilted his wrist to make it look like an accident and a cold, tingling sensation coated his fingers, like menthol lotion.  
A sharp, "No!" drew his attention and the egg was snatched out of his hand before he could even flinch. Graphite cradled it protectively, and Kiriya's brows raised. So he was still—

The bugster's expression suddenly fell, his shoulders dropping like a weight pulled down on him. He looked tired, and even... Kiriya didn't want to assume, but the expression seemed disappointed. If he really wanted to stretch it, he'd say that Graphite was ashamed of himself. He held the egg out at arm's length, and Kiriya started talking again to get his mind off of it.

"So," He said slowly, not wanting to startle Graphite, "What is all this?"

Graphite's eyes met his, locking on determinedly, "I've been thinking about what you asked earlier. And it's only fair that you get to understand what the hell is wrong with me. Since you've stayed, despite everything I put you through."

Kiriya laughed, wanting to lighten the mood a little out of habit, "Well, it's not like I could leave if I wanted to, but it really wasn't as bad as you're making it sound."

Graphite attempted to smile back, but it quickly died.

"Still, the least I can do is answer your questions. The ones you were really wondering about in regards to me, anyway. I was serious when I said Genm tells me nothing."

Kiriya settled into the nest a little more comfortably and watched Graphite hold the egg up, seeming conflicted. Finally, his brows drew together and he closed his eyes, fingers tightening on the shell and extending his arm out. Kiriya couldn't help but gasp when Graphite tipped the egg over, spilling out all of its insides, turning them into a tiny, glittering curve, like water being shot from a hose arching up into the sun, as they turned into pixels and started fluttering up towards the ceiling. Open-mouthed and frozen, Kiriya could only keep watching as Graphite tightened his grip on the empty shell, crushing it so green pixels burst from between his fingers.

Kiriya watched the line of Graphite's throat as he swallowed hard, eyes then drifting to the dragon's face as he watched the pixels float up and out of his hand, and when he uncurled his fingers, a last few flecks of light drifted away.

"Nesting for me is... complicated." He said at last, and Kiriya bit down on a shocked 'no kidding,' opting to sit there in silence to not say anything that would get him punched. "It's just this... I don't want anything else like me out in the world?"

That wasn't it, Kiriya could tell from the way Graphite wouldn't meet his eyes and the waver in his voice. It wasn't a totally intentional lie, though. Kiriya fancied himself familiar enough with the art of it to tell the difference between the kinds of lies, and this one felt more like something Graphite told himself to ignore the truth.

"I want more bugsters, that's certain. I want all of the others to be able to live out here, just do what they want and not have to be confined to the same old story events and cutscenes over and over again. They should be able to choose... But having a child is..." Graphite's breathing grew labored, throat visibly working in a way Kiriya was all too familiar with. He'd seen it enough on relatives and friends and coworkers he'd have to bring into the morgue to help identify bodies. "It's unprecedented. It's not how bugsters work. I just... I have a hard time wrapping my head around it."

Kiriya nodded along with the words, knowing they were dancing around something Graphite didn't want to admit. He didn't want to pry, hoping the dragon would finally open up to it when he felt like it, but he was starting to form ideas on how to get at the core of those thoughts if he needed to.

"The reason the eggs do this is 'cause they're not fertilized. If they were they'd eventually hatch, and I'd have to deal with that." Graphite's eyes squeezed closed, "I'd have to look at another being one day and have to come to terms with 'that thing came out of my body. I raised it,' and for some reason, more than anything else..." He swallowed hard again, exhaling harshly.

"It terrifies me."

Those words latched onto Kiriya's heart, squeezing as his stomach dropped, making his muscles twitch reflexively from the weight of the feeling.

Their reasons might not be the same, but Kiriya understood his own fear of children, of _having children_ all too well. The creeping horror of something living inside him and growing, forcing his body's shape into a home for itself, the fear of not having full control of himself and having to change and twist to the whims of something else. He shuffled forward on his knees, making his approach obvious so Graphite had all the warning and time in the world to tell him to back off, but he didn't. And he didn't shake off Kiriya's hand when he placed it lightly on the dragon's knee either.

Graphite seemed slightly comforted by the gesture and nodded thankfully.

"I have memories of being _her._ And she was scared of it, too. It was always treated as a fact. Something she would definitely do, never a choice, and I think that turned it into a burden. And that just adds to everything already messing with my head." Graphite's hand slid down to curl around Kiriya's, squeezing faintly, then letting go and resting limply on top of it.

"At first it was easy, I felt like I knew what and who I was. But the more I stayed out here, the more it felt like I was stuck between two forces pulling me in opposite directions. There's what Genm intended me to be, and I hate Genm. And then there's whatever influence Momose's data has, and not all of that feels like it fits me either. It's hard to tell what I want to be and what's just noise and influence from everything else."

His eyes drifted over to the nest, and Kiriya's gaze followed, both of them silently watching the steady stream of glowing lights floating up and away.

"Right now, there's part of me screaming to save them somehow. My base instinct wants nothing more than to raise a clutch, but it's just a feeling that happens every once in a while. No matter how strong it is, can I really say it's something I want? I can't just, turn having eggs on and off so saying fuck you to my instincts and not seeking out a mate or just letting the eggs fade feels like the only choice I have in this. That's why—"

He winced as his voice cracked, "Ugh, sorry. I'm not usually this emotional. It's sort of a nesting side effect."

Kiriya breathed out slowly, turning back to meet Graphite's eyes with a slight smile.

"Jeez, Graphite, you're wrestling with some heavy shit, huh?"

The bugster looked at him angrily for a moment, then nudged him with his foot, hard enough to make him flinch. But he just ended up laughing after the initial shock. Graphite laughed along with him for a bit, then relaxed against the couch again. Their fingers were still touching, but Graphite retracted his hand and his face fell back into that neutral somewhat somber look.

Kiriya took his hand back as well and bit his lip. At least the tiredness in his eyes looked a little lessened. There was still that bone-deep exhaustion, but he looked... less conflicted. He felt relieved seeing that he could help Graphite get some of that weight off him even if he didn't have anything else to offer for help.

They sat in silence for a while, not entirely awkward, but there was still something hanging over their heads.

“You can leave if you want,” Graphite said, not really looking at him.

Kiriya felt there was something reluctant in his tone, and honestly, he was hesitant about leaving himself. Graphite still wasn’t entirely himself with how spacey and emotional he'd been the whole day. Graphite just poured out this very vulnerable part of his heart to him, and being left alone with Kuroto and his partner was one of the last things Kiriya would want for anyone in an emotional state like this.

He couldn’t say with confidence Graphite would do the same for him if their situations were reversed, but Kiriya knew he couldn’t live with feeling like an absolute tool if he just abandoned him now.

Slowly, Kiriya reached out a hand, grabbing Graphite’s carefully. And the whole time, the dragon watched it like Kiriya would attack him at any moment. He squeezed Graphite’s hand a little and tried his best to grin encouragingly at the glare suddenly directed his way, “I’ll stay ‘til tomorrow.”

Graphite’s expression flickered into something soft, mouth open slightly around some surprised, unvoiced sound or question. There was a moment of hesitation, where his eyebrows furrowed and his teeth bared like he wanted to tell Kiriya off or growl at him, but he seemed to decide against it. Finally, his face fell, looking resigned as he closed his eyes and nodded slowly. He was completely silent as he pulled Kiriya into a familiar position, hands very deliberately tucked against himself or near the eggs, like he was afraid of touching Kiriya.

He wouldn’t blame Graphite for feeling that way, everything from today suddenly put new dimensions on their whole… relationship? He was reluctant to call it that, because they barely had one when this whole thing started, and what he’d done with Graphite for the past few days, while a mix of annoying and endearing, couldn’t be considered an actual relationship since the bugster was only half-conscious for all of it. ‘Relationship’ felt too strong of a word for whatever was between them now, but he wouldn’t deny he felt some kind of emotion stirring in his chest at how easily Graphite fell asleep, and how soft he suddenly looked.

Kiriya pulled the sheets back over Graphite’s side. While there wasn’t much reason to do the whole nesting routine anymore, he felt compelled to keep it up just so Graphite was comfortable for tonight. As he laid there, his gaze slowly drifted from Graphite’s exhausted form to the steady stream of pixels drifting up from the sheets and pillows between them.

Some of them would catch on the fabric above Graphite’s side, bobbing there like fireflies until they completely faded away. The others just drifted up and out into the open air, meeting a similar fate as they bumped up against the curtains forming the outer layer of Graphite’s makeshift den. Against the dark backdrop of the cloth roof they glittered and swirled around each other like little galaxies.

Kiriya tried to rationalize his sudden sadness for them. But that ended up driving his thoughts in circles and he resisted the urge to turn over and over in the sheets until he tired himself out in fear of bothering Graphite. Eventually, he settled down when he let go and just watched them. As he drifted off, the restlessness stubbornly clinging to him was finally calmed by the thought that they at least got to be something beautiful before they were gone forever.


	14. Chapter 14

Kiriya pulled on his jacket for the first time in what felt like months. It had really only been a week, but each day felt like it stretched on forever. He was still feeling overheated and grimy from the bits of foam clinging to him and he wanted nothing else but to run home and shower as fast as possible, but he had to make sure he didn't forget anything. Leaving something behind might not be disastrous unless it was his phone, since Kuroto already knew he was here and seemingly called a truce for now, but it would definitely be a hassle to get things back. Graphite helped him pack away the sheets Emu bought into the paper shopping bag he left behind.

They agreed the sheets wouldn't do Graphite much good since he needed the higher temperatures if he nested again, and Kiriya thought most of them were pretty cute, so he claimed them. Emu had surprisingly good taste. Though Kiriya made sure not to say a word about the floral print one Graphite thought he had completely hidden in the corner of the nest behind some pillows.

As Kiriya did one last check, Graphite ran his fingers over the remaining egg. Somehow, the one Kiriya had cracked was still around, just sitting there in the little bundle of blankets and foam like it was supposed to be there.

"Stubborn..." he muttered.

Kiriya chuckled, "Reminds me of someone."

Graphite shot him an unamused look, but it slowly softened into something almost unreadable. He picked up the egg and offered it towards Kiriya, keeping his eyes fixed to the sheets.

"You should take it."

Kiriya faltered, "Why?"

"You wanted to research the virus, right? You could probably run tests on it for however long it lasts. A lot more subtle and convenient than trying to catch a bugster, don't you think?" He pushed his hand towards Kiriya again.

He had a point, but... "I can't help but feel like there's some other reason."

Graphite grabbed his hand and was about to put the egg in, but seemed to lose some of his drive. His shoulders slumped forward and his hands fell to the sheets. He scowled at the egg, but his eyes were conflicted like all those other times.

"I don't want it," He said firmly. Kiriya leaned in to try and meet Graphite's eyes, and he must've noticed, because his gaze snapped up to Kiriya's, "Look, you can make use of it. Also... Since you put up with me this whole week, I feel like it's partially yours, so you should be able to decide what happens with it since I'm not going to be able to take care of it after this." Kiriya sighed, lips pursing slightly in thought, Graphite watching him intently for his answer.

Well, the egg would actually be helpful, and he'd honestly be doing Graphite a favor if he took it. It couldn't exactly work for the proof he wanted but he could put it towards other things that would be more helpful in the long run. Graphite was right, this could be the test subject he’d been looking for to see if his reprogramming function even worked.

"Okay," He finally said, taking the egg from Graphite's hand. Now that he was looking at it closer, he noticed there was a sort of silvery undertone to it, making the scales glimmer when the light hit it right. He glanced up at Graphite and could read the turmoil on his face, so he gave him what he hoped was an encouraging smile, "I'll take good care of it. Thanks."

Graphite nodded solemnly and started to shuffle away, but impulsively, Kiriya caught him by the arm and pulled him close. Before Graphite could pull back or ask what he was doing Kiriya leaned in and kissed him briefly.

"What—"

Kiriya winked, "One for the road," and started laughing as Graphite spluttered, trying to string together a coherent sentence to scream at him.

He hopped out of the nest, trying to dance out of Graphite's reach, but the dragon was immediately in his face, grabbing him by the front of his shirt and snarling.

"I see you—" Kiriya's quip got cut off by Graphite suddenly kissing him roughly, other hand coming up to grab the wrist of the hand holding the egg, eventually sliding down so they were both supporting it and making sure it didn't drop.

He blinked surprisedly at the bugster, but melted into the kiss, just letting himself get lost in the feeling for a while. When they pulled back, Kiriya quirked an eyebrow at him, but Graphite just pushed him away.

"Get out of here," He grumbled, but there wasn't any heat behind it.

Kiriya was tempted to pull him back in for another kiss, just stay in this moment where all the lines between friend and foe were blurred and they didn't have to worry about fighting or the outbreak for a while longer, but he knew there was a reality he had to go back to. It might not need him, but at least he could try to make a difference in it.

He ran his fingers through Graphite's hair one last time, slipped the egg into a pocket in his jacket and left the office without looking back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i had this written for like 4 months and i'm so glad to finally set it free into the universe
> 
> you can check an alt version where they bang and it fades to black on my [tumblr](https://droppedalltheseoreos.tumblr.com/post/633799151145107456/alternate-end-for-ch-14-of-just-you-me-and)


	15. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy birthday to me this wild ride is finally done. Thank you for reading this far!! I appreciate the support so much!

Kuroto cautiously peeked into Graphite's nest, noticing the new sheets, and thankfully the bugster himself, was gone. Looked like his nesting session was finally over and he could start cleaning the office up. He’d have to plan something special for Kujo Kiriya as a thank you for dealing with Graphite, somehow making him more manageable through this nesting period. He was sure he could come up with something appropriate, especially now that the deadline to eliminate him had been pushed up with all the information he probably overheard. 

And then there was his less than amicable relationship with Graphite, so there was no telling what the doctor managed to get out of him. Oh well, the bugster’s usefulness had almost run its course, and while Parad might’ve wanted to keep him around a bit longer, they needed Graphite’s death data. Speaking of Parad…

From behind him, he heard faint blips and bloops from Parad’s handheld and creaks from the hammock’s frame every once in a while that he knew were from Parad shifting or bouncing excitedly. Kuroto put his hands on his hips as he looked down at Graphite’s mess with distaste.

Parad never helped, and Graphite sure as hell wasn't going to. No, the dragon bugster would be perfectly content to keep the whole office a chaotic mess that he'd consider a homey den, and Kuroto couldn't have that.

His chaos needed to be controlled, have at least some kind of order or throughline to it.

Well, it was to be expected, he sighed as he reached into the couches. He _was_ the most capable one here, so it only made sense that difficult work would be left to him, which was usually the before and after Graphite’s “time of the month.” He had to move out all the furniture he didn't want to be destroyed and hide it away as quickly as possible, while Graphite tore the rest of the place apart. And then, when Graphite's nesting was over, he had to clean up after it to not raise suspicion with the janitorial team. All three of them knew how terrible it went last time someone found out.

"You know you're going to have to move your hammock out of here, soon." He called over his shoulder as he started to gather up the sheets in a way that could capture as many foam bits as possible.

All he got in return was an annoyed groan and the faint noises of fingers clicking against console keys frustratedly.

"Look, you can either help me clean up, or move it out by yourself, your choice."

"I like it up here," He couldn't see Parad's face, but he knew he was being sent a pout with big, watery eyes full of fake tears, "I get to be closer to you."

Well, that was a nice perk of Graphite nesting, but... "If the plan's going to work, no one can know about you besides the players just yet. When we get into Phase Three, you can keep it anywhere you want."

Long, spindly arms suddenly wrapped around him from behind, and he felt a forehead resting against the back of his head, "Fiiinne." Parad huffed, but pressed a kiss to the back of his neck, startling a shudder out of Kuroto.

"Maybe I'll help you out this time, and we can move the hammock, _together."_ Parad traced his hands up and down Kuroto's chest and sides, promising that moving the hammock wasn't going to be the only thing they were doing with it tonight.

**Author's Note:**

> Huge Thanks to [SleepySapphire](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SleepySapphire/pseuds/SleepySapphire) and [neckspike](https://archiveofourown.org/users/neckspike/pseuds/neckspike) for going off in chat and giving me all the good good ideas for this AU, *i owe you my life meme here*
> 
> Also, thank you for stopping by and reading!


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